NSA Chief: News Leaks Harmful

by Norman Black Washington

NSA Chief: News Leaks Harmful

Copyright © 1987, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. AP VIDEOTEX via Delphi

2-SEP 14:31

NSA Chief: News Leaks Harmful

By NORMAN BLACK WASHINGTON (AP) The head of the nation's communications intelligence agency said Wednesday that his operations have been harmed more by news leaks in the past several years than at any point in recent history.

Army Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, director of the National Security Agency, asserted the United States had suffered ``just deadly losses'' in keeping tabs on Libya through electronic means thanks to news reports. He also cited a loss involving intelligence from Syria.

Odom refused to elaborate on his claims, however, saying: ``You just have to take my word that that's the way it looks from where we sit.''

He said he had become so concerned about news leaks since assuming his post in 1985 that he had referred several cases to the Justice Department for prosecution under a 1950 statute that bars disclosure of ``communication intelligence.''

Although the Justice Department has yet to pursue such a case, he said, ``I don't think that the application of the statute would greatly harm the flow of information and the public debate.''

Odom, in a rare meeting with Pentagon correspondents, also expressed concern about the public debate that would accompany the negotiation of any arms accord with the Soviet Union.

Unless the portion of that debate focusing on verification procedures is shielded from the public by the Senate, much of the NSA's ability to verify Russian compliance in the future will be compromised, he contended.

Odom predicted that the Soviet Union's recent emphasis on deploying mobile nuclear missiles would continue, because the Soviet military is pursuing a doctrine that calls for the ability to hide its forces in order to fight a protracted war.

The NSA, based at Fort Meade, Md., near Baltimore, is generally considered the largest and most secretive of all American intellience operations. It uses spy satellites and high-tech electronic listening gear and computers to eavesdrop on radio, telephone and other communication systems around the world.

Odom suggested that reporters could help safeguard national security by simply leaving out of their stories revelations about how intelligence information had been gathered, focusing instead on the information itself.

``That's where a lot of the damage comes,'' he said.

As for the case of Marine Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree, the U.S. Embassy guard in Moscow who was convicted last month of passing secrets to Soviet agents, Odom said he still had ``to assume the worst.''

Lonetree was originally charged with allowing Soviet agents inside the embassy building itself. Those charges were dropped for lack of evidence, and Odom agreed there was no ``unambiguous evidence that they penetrated all the secure areas (inside the building).''

``But I can assure you the Soviet capabilities are such that a few minutes or an hour or two of physical access even into the adjoining areas would be quite damaging,'' he said.

``We've had some pretty open evidence of Soviet activities of this sort. It would be highly imprudent to conclude anything else.''