CIA REDFACED OVER ITS GAFFE ON SAUDIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060034-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 34
• Publication Date: July 22, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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,depart. within = days, on -a. delicate trip:
to Saudi Arabia.. The,Arab kingdom is
longstanding z=Washington habit.::. No
one quite- knows why, the agency did
it on this occasion `~K iS
One person:who was-not. well-served
by this turn of . events -.was , President.
Carter's- national security-affairs -? ad-
viser; Zbigniew Brzezinski,.who was to
ruling regime might collapse within
two years.
When it leaked, the agency- private-
ly briefed two'.:=journalists-another
It began simply, enough, with that
venerable and, almost-routine Wash-
ington maneuvsr,..the.leak..But_this
was. a leak that went wrong.::
Earlier this year,-- the CIA warned
the White House that Saudi Arabia's
ward.
An air of intense embarrassment
still hangs ove' the entire affair. The
deputy director,, of- the CIA, Frank
Carlucci, even, apologized to- Saudi
Arabia's ruling circles for it after-
By David Leigh
Washinston Yost Stan writer
Grand: Mosque ln'Mecca'' by t adition=
'alist Saudi' dissidents, ari'event= that.
sent-shockwaves;through,-the. ruling
But -it began in'January, barelytwo
months= after Othe attack:. -on. ,the
volved wilt'discussi it oil the record
Neither-the, CLiioi :fanyone_else in*
tailed without'a?certain.indistinctness.
ingl:on-_bureaucr' is politicians and.
ended up offending` everyone z,=--y't
fors being smart ;spies,; they agency::
-60- instead. of:agauung a reputation
It almost succeeded-in killing 'the'
story with high=level-.:telephone-,cads:?
where it could do-no?harm f;? ;'
the lid on the-story- a?qd, confine _it to-
gaffe. It started twisting arms.to keep'
of oil imported-by the' United States
December 1979):
`.;?As ~ Brzezinsk"'prepared-? to'visit, Sa=='
;mightservethe tageacY's :purposes
ing,began to surface on-Capitol. HiIL
A;l
`= :.For all its secrecy; the cm. gives 'se-
leeted=_U.S:; -journalists-, "background
briefings. _ at-.itsi''Eangtey ' headquar.'
THE WASHINGTON POST
22 July 1980
In the'case of the Saudi. report,
, ..
agency.:'decided = to- . brief ?.- Roberta
Hornig of- The -Washington Star and
Jane -Whitmore of-Newsweek.
They, apparently were told of the re-
port suggesting that the Saudi regime-
might collapse -within two years.- As
one- source quoted the report,, Crown
Prince;