Keeping the Company's Secrets

The censors turn on a former CIA director

As CIA director under Jimmy Carter, Admiral Stansfield Turner established the Publications Review Board, in essence a censorship committee within the agency to ensure that no secrets crept into print in the writings of former agents. It was Turner who was responsible for the civil prosecution of Frank W. Snepp, whose 1977 book, Decent Interval, a critical study of the agency's role in Viet Nam, was published without prior CIA review, in violation of his contract with the agency. In February 1980, the Supreme Court ordered Snepp to hand over profits from his book to the Government. So far, that ruling has cost Snepp nearly $200,000 in forgone royalties.

Now, ironically, Turner is running afoul of the review process he helped create. Agency censors want to delete material from Turner's own book about intelligence gathering operations. They claim that Turner's disclosures would endanger CIA sources and methods.

Turner, who has been highly critical of the CIA under Ronald Reagan, has rewritten the offending chapters, but he is digging in his heels to retain some anecdotes about CIA clandestine operations that he insists do not compromise U.S. security interests. The nature of the proposed deletions, [he was quoted as saying, '"changes the chapters and makes them less appealing from a sales point of view."

He explains, "I believe it's in the interest of an open society to make public as much information as you can, without endangering national security."

That argument carries little weight in the Reagan Administration, which is appalled by too many leaks and has tightened rules on classification, making it easier for Government papers to be stamped SECRET. Last March the President issued a directive extending security procedures to all those in Government who are cleared for highly classified information. They now must sign prepublication review agreements covering their writings even after they have retired. Previously such strictures applied only to members of the intelligence Establishment like Snepp and Turner.

Turner says he is confident that the dispute can be settled without litigation, but if the CIA stands fast that will be his only course of action short of defying the agency as Snepp did. "If we did end up in court, it would surprise me," he says. "This is a highly negotiated process." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.