pollack@uicsl.UUCP (01/29/84)
#N:uicsl:16300043:000:2861
uicsl!pollack Jan 28 16:26:00 1984
There are many people who work for our National Security by collecting
and analyzing information from around the world. Besides the paranoid
militaristic ideological spooks which pervade the Intelligence
Community, there are many objective and well-informed citizens who
contribute to our national security without being beholden to a
particular ideology. When a document, secret or otherwise, is
produced, dissenters have, in the past, been able to communicate their
opinions through various communication channels; for example, when the
infamously dubious "White paper on communist interference in El
Salvador" was published in Feb. 81 and made it "clear that over the
past year the insurgency in El Salvador has been progressively
transformed into another case of indirect armed aggression against a
small Third World country by Communist powers acting through Cuba",
(thus laying the misinformation groundwork for a confrontational
policy), a large group of analysts within the intelligence agencies
published a Dissent Paper, in which they persuasively argued for a
diplomatic, rather than a militaristic solution to the problems in
Central America.
Now, for the bad news -- there is no more dissent:
>From NY Times, Fri 1/27, p. 10, col. 1:
"The secret report on Soviet Violations of arms control agreements
that the Reagan Administration sent to Congress this week surprised
some intelligence authorities because it seemed so unequivocal.
Ordinarily, interagency documents compiled by the DIA, CIA, State
Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and NSA include
footnotes or similar devices in which dissent [...] can be
expressed...
"But the 55-page report by the NSC, whch Congress had ordered from
the executive Branch last year, did not include any indications of
possible fallibility or doubt. Dissents were reportedly eliminated
by the White House in meetings led by Robert McFarlane...
"The pressures involved were substantial. Conservative Republicans
in Congress have been seeking official documentation of instances in
which the Soviet Union has failed to abide by its arms control pledges,
and the State Department has been reluctant to respond because of the
complexity of the material and obvious international repercussions.
[...] The dissent-free intelligence report that finally emerged seemed
tailored to their interests."
The elimination of Intelligence dissent by pressure from the
Administration is yet another indication -- following mandatory
lie-detector tests and permanent censorship -- of the erosion of the
Freedom of Speech under Reagan. The current trend is towards a
unification of the voice of our government, and a goverment which
speaks in one voice shares the tongue of Big Brother.
I stopped hugging Teddy Bears long ago...
Jordan Pollack
University of Illinois
...pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!pollack