European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes july 1985 columns comments Carl Rowan must fight realities of soviet espionage millions of americans seem unable to accept the reality that the soviet Union is a country steeped in driven by fear into trying to do through espionage what it is not Able to achieve through its own technology or its own Industrial and agricultural soviet spies stole the secrets of the atomic Russia has thousands of spies in the Silicon Valley of California in defense plants that build americas spaceships in operations to smuggle to the soviet Union american cameras and other High technology developments spies dedicated to delivering to russian doctors and Farmers anything that constitutes an american that is Why we now have a nerve wrenching scandal Over two decades of effective soviet espionage against the that also is Why we would be fools to assume that soviet spies have not been equally successful in penetrating other areas of military and Industrial and double stupid to think the russians will Ever curb their espionage Navy Secretary John Lehman said recently the soviet Union has a colossal advantage in that it has some All of whom Are spies in if not direct agents of the in their Trade United nations and the International secretariat in the United the has Only 900 such officials in the soviet some members of liberals and arc now crying for Steps to wipe out this a reduction of soviet spies in this country would be but there is no easy Way for the to reduce their numbers in the soviet Mission or in the and no International body is headquartered in Moscow that gives the an excuse to put As Many spies in the soviet Union As the russians have in the United what we can do is face the reality that things done in the name of detente civil airlines consulate a cultural exchanges must not be come vehicles through which the soviets gain even greater espionage the russians want to open a consulate in new York offering us one in Kiev in there is nothing that James Kilpatrick agents can learn in Kiev that would com pare with what soviet spies can learn and do in new this is an offer the can the soviets Are pushing for rights to have their official Fly from Moscow to new York even though officials have told soviet leaders that on previous flights Aeroflot planes were used to spy on military facilities in and the soviet Union shot Down korean air lines flight 007 because they cant be Lieve that other countries do not do As they do use civilian airliners As spy no Airliner Exchange is important enough to give the soviets an invitation for Aeroflot Aerial espionage or to use Aeroflot to sneak militarily important computers and other technology out of new York into Moscow As diplomatic this airline Deal is another offer that the United states can but there Are harder bullets that officials must bite if they Are to foil the americans Are going to have to question seriously the Wisdom of sharing super secret information with even their closest european the current Lon Don trial of seven military men accused of giving the russians extraordinary secrets in Exchange for sexual favors from other males and also from seductive Mata and for lingerie for the British men to Wear in their homosexual is just part of a Long string of episodes illustrating that the governments of great West Germany and other nato countries Are secrecy Good if we cant rely on the British and the germans to keep gravely important what can we expect of the the the whose leaders often express High degrees of alienation from the policies espoused by Washington we need to make the punishment of american spies certain and de sense Secretary Caspar Weinberger says that convicted peacetime spies should be though i suppose hanging is the preferred no Law can be passed now that would provide More severe punishment for the Walker if they Are but Congress can easily pro Duce a stiffer deterrent to those not yet spying or we need to curb soviet opportunities for spying in which is More Dif but absolutely we need to face the truth no matter How secretive we sharing information with our closest european allies May mean giving it to Moscow and dealing with that reality raises immense political we even need to understand that As Long As homosexuality is grounds for banishment from our and when it is impossible to keep homosexuals out of the Marine corps and air those service members will be vulnerable to blackmail by soviet and that Issue raises troubling religious and moral problems for Ameri so we Are caught in a world of spies in which a free american society May be the loser because we dont know or we simply to face and Deal with these Tough c news America Syndicate libel suit will Mold future of investigative reporting the Tavoulareas libel Case will be Back in the courts this those of us in the news business will be hoping that 10 judges of the court of appeals will do better than two of them did last the future of True investigative reporting will be significantly shaped by the courts this is shop and i ask your indulgence for through some perverse misreading of the Public inter est in our own Little newspaper people Seldom write much about the newspaper the general feeling is that other topics have greater news one result of this Ostrich policy is that when we finally get around to writing about Freedom of the readers wonder what were so wrought up since april some of us have been wrought up about the Tavoulareas that was when judges George Mackinnon and Antonin Scalia of the District of Columbia court of appeals ruled that a libel judgement against the Washington which had been set aside by the District should be Mackinnon opinion breathed with hostility toward the whole idea of hard hitting investigative his weighing of the key Issue of falsity had an ant press thumb on the the understandably distressed by the Mackinnon Scalia asked for reconsideration by the full a few Days ago the judges voted to rehear the Case in Bane this Mackinnon april opinion has been vacated and will have no precedential the Story on which the suit was based appeared in the Post in november this was the Lead paragraph Mobil Oil president William Tavoulareas set up his son five years ago As a partner in a London based shipping management firm that has since done millions of dollars in business operating Mobil owned ships under no bid the article continued for another 84 de tailing an intricate Chain of events by which an Atlas trading came into being with Young Peter Tavoulareas As a major judge Shelly who dissented from the Mckinnon Scalia ruling in noted that More than 20 paragraphs of the article reported mobiles version of the events in the published Story was the product of More than a months patient digging by reporter Patrick both William and son Peter Tavoulareas sued the Post for the Case came on for trial in the jury held that the Post had defamed William and had published tylers Story with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the but the trial Oliver took an unusual convinced that there was no Clear and convincing proof on the falsity he set aside the award non Obs tante vere Dicto notwithstanding the thus the present posture of the Case finds the newspaper and the Mobil executive right where they were after Gasch acted two years the whole Issue is up for decision once but More is at stake than the posts 2 million if the Mackinnon Scalia View ultimately should the newspaper will be heavily punished for doing exactly what a great newspaper is supposed to it went after a Story about one of the most powerful business executives in the whole corporate world it painstakingly tracked Down fact after fact it repeatedly sought comment from the older to if in the end the facts added up to a false As the plaintiffs steadfastly have that conclusion cannot constitute malice under the Law of libel As we know c 1985 Universal press Syndicate