Nation: Loosening Reins on the CIA

A new charter should make intelligence gathering easier

In the wake of revelations that the Central Intelligence Agency had spied on Americans at home and tried to assassinate foreign leaders abroad, Congress and the President in the mid-1970s reined in U.S. spy agencies—altogether too tightly. Now, many Senators and Congress men are determined to loosen the hold.

But how much? Last week a Senate intelligence subcommittee answered that question by proposing a new charter that would free the CIA and the nation's four other major intelligence agencies from several onerous restrictions.

The proposed National Intelligence Act of 1980 has Jimmy Carter's strong backing. The charter's most important provision would allow the CIA to conduct covert operations if the President, after consulting with the Nation al Security Council, found them necessary to protect "important" U.S. interests overseas. Such operations have never been formally banned, but a 1974 law had the effect of requiring the President to notify eight congressional committees about them in "a timely fashion." The risks of a leak were so great that covert op erations were severely limited. The new bill would require prior notification of only the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, a manageable demand.

There is still some dispute, however, over just when the committees must be told. Carter argues that the President should be allowed to withhold information about some especially delicate operations if prior disclosure would endanger lives or embarrass friendly lives or embarrass friendly governments. Some Senators consider that too wide a loophole.

The bill would allow the CIA to tap the phones and search the premises of U.S. citizens or corporations in foreign countries, but only if the agency first obtained warrants from a special court. The CIA would be permitted to use journalists, clergymen or academics as part-time agents or informers overseas, a practice that is now forbidden by the agency's own rules. Only U.S. citizens or resident aliens could look at the CIA's nonsensitive files on them; at present, under the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA is required to show some files to almost any one who asks. The new charter would one who asks. The new charter would very specifically continue the ban on assassination.

While many provisions of the charter are likely to win broad congressional acceptance, some will stir hot debate. Liberals are expected to fight against the limited permission to spy on Americans overseas. Other Senators and Congressmen will surely push for fewer restrictions on the intelligence agencies. Democratic Senator Pat Moynihan of New York has already introduced his own bill, which would make it a criminal offense for anyone to publish classified material or the names of agents still on active duty. In contrast, the Administration-backed charter would confine the criminal offense to CIA officers or former officers, exempting third parties such as journalists.