European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                              July 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 13 address new concerns with new Cia Reform Sacramento Bee editorial fifteen years after the National Security Archive at George Washington University filed a free Dom of information the Central intelligence Agency finally has released documents detail ing its these documents Are extremely important not Only for expos ing illegal or improper Cia activities of the 1950s and 1960s but for providing an impetus to examine today the abuses of the past occurred in the pressure cooker of the cold War and Vietnam we need to be Alert for abuses As the United states confronts the Cia provided these Docu ments to Congress in for investigations done by president Fords Rockefeller the senates Church committee and the houses Pike the Public could read the reports of those investigations but had no Access to the primary source mate now the Public can see the actual documents see the nation Al Security archives web site the documents detail a Host of illegal or improper acts the Cias hiring of mobsters to assassinate cuban dictator Fidel Castro studying student Radical groups such As students for a democratic society and Black Power groups opening mail to and from China and Russia testing behavioural drugs using Volunteer Mem Bers of the armed forces imprisoning defectors wiretapping journalists to identify their sources investigating John Lennon fund ing of Antiwar most As the investigations of the 1970s is that presidents of both parties initiated or ordered these to guard against abuses by the our system has to guard against out control from the earlier investigations came Basic policy recommendations the United states should not engage in assassination As a tool of foreign the United states should not make use of underworld figures in carrying out Cia Congress should have stand ing committees on intelligence the release comes As Council of Europe members voted to approve a report accusing the Cia of secret detentions and unlawful interstate transfers of often involving countries that use the nation needs an american investigation of these similar to the investigations of the As with assassinations and use of some Cia activities today should be condemned and barred from Ever happening More than a generation has passed since the reforms of the we need an update to meet the needs of our taking care that articles dont Aid enemy efforts ombudsman David Mazzarella there Are delicate balances in the Media world revelation versus Pri Vacy straight reporting versus advocacy Freedom to publish versus necessary the last one comes Clos est to what i wanted to discuss today the re porting of military events or capabilities that some interpret As aiding the enemy and endangering the lives of editors think they Are being careful in re porting issues arising in wartime others May see it Over the past several complaints have come to stars and stripes about stories ranging from a Security scare in Germany to the strength of vehicles provided to troops in in stars and stripes ran a series about Security at bases in alerts that terrorists May have been targeting the bases had come from the embassy in Berlin and German some of the stories pointed out perceived shortcomings in base Security shortcomings that sever Al citizens at the bases complained about to that was More than a letter writer from Douglas could Here we go he Doest stars and stripes print a whole Bunch of stories about the Lack of adequate Security fencing and Access controls at Vari Ous Sites within we of protect the terrorists need to of course i mean the Public need to the editors say they Learned of the Poten tial dangers Early on and abide by the Mili Tarys request to forestall they say they ran stories about the fencing Only after local residents and even then did not include As much information As was being made available to the Media by of in the i think we have been extremely careful with the information we said Sam Europe Bureau i would when i asked two army Public affairs officers and two residents who had contacted stripes about alleged Security lapses whether they thought the coverage had Given any terrorists information they didst three said no and one an officer said he didst i did question one Page 1 headline that in my opinion was vague and alarmist hous ing complexes remain i also want sure the paper needed to name two towns where Security was under special Amrhein says the towns were on the in an official response to reporters and the paper refrained from naming specific housing areas also cited in the several complaints about other articles have come All saying that the enemy was helped by what was i have Little problem responding to whether in agreement or i disagreed with one for who said that among articles that can ultimately Hurt us was one from the associated saying that because troops were increasingly deployed away from their fortified they were More vulnerable to that statement in the wire service Story seemed to be it was Logi Cal that the soldiers would be targeted More if they were patrolling outside their and insurgents didst need a newspaper to Tell them the soldiers were out and another writer complained about a Cap Tion on a photograph of gis playing Volley Ball at a base in it said that regardless of the soldiers tried to play at a specific time every and the caption noted that the writer said that mentioning the exact time was a Gross violation of Secu Rity though i dont know How vulnerable that particular base is to mortar or rocket i have to say that the com plaint on the face of it seems there were other complaints about Sto Ries that dealt with the following a new vehicle deemed ineffective against Fps explosively formed Penetra the distance from the iraqi prime ministers Green zone office to mortar rounds used in an the names of fallen service members and the fact that a brigade commander was the effectiveness of efforts to Jam less improvised explosive another new vehicle that is deemed effective against none of the stories was written by a stripes four came from the associated press and one from Usa that Doest absolve stripes of responsibility for what appears in the but when a named military person is quoted As was the Case in some of the articles it makes it hard to see the revealed information As nevertheless one hesitates to pass judg ment on warnings from soldiers that some stories Are its easy for me to sit in a comfortable office thousands of Miles away and insist that a Story does not Aid the contradicting people on the ground whose survival could depend on what the enemy knows or Doest on such matters i turn to stripes Able Mideast Bureau Joe who shepherds reporters in the War and who has been there often the bal he is Between telling a com truthful and doing so without putting anyone into unnecessary he says the insurgents themselves have better intelligence on vehicles than any newspaper has he acknowledges the importance of not revealing too much about the Landing of mortar rounds in a base or the Green although commanders say most of the attacks Are meant to not necessarily Giordono rightly recognizes the papers responsibility to Tell the truth and keep the readers informed about the larger War which they Are while at the same time following the embed and he says readers May forget that our reporters work and travel with the troops at All its also in our own self interest to keep safety in mind when reporting and got a question or suggestion for the ombudsman on what or should in stars and stripes Send an email to , or phone 2027610945 in the to our readers Dave Mazzarella readers Corner blog can be found at prickly City by Scott Stantis