(EST Pub Date) CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

## Some Self-Policing

What gives this limited influence a "multiplier effect" is something that surprised me about the media: that the journalistic profession has the will and the ability to hold its own members to certain standards. This self-policing phenomenon reached its apogee early in 1997, when the American Journalism Review (AJR) published a skeptical piece on "The Web That Gary Spun." This piece also revealed that some of Gary Webb's harshest critics were his own colleagues on the Mercury-News staff. The editor of the AJR later wrote that the Mercury-News deserved all the heat leveled at it for "Dark Alliance." The criticism from within the journalistic community had its effect; in May 1997, the executive editor of the Mercury-News made nationwide news by apologizing in print for the flaws and shortcomings of "Dark Alliance." This mea culpa was reported by every major newspaper in the country.15

The CIA-drug story has largely run its course. It is by no means a dead issue, however. The Mercury-News disclaimer "didn't change things at all" for Representative Waters, and she continued to conduct her own investigation. $ ^{16} $ She and other critics publicly disparaged CIA again in late 1997, when the IG announced its investigation came up with no evidence to support the charges. About the same time, Gary Webb resigned from the Mercury-News. He evidently is considering writing a book in which he would expand his theories to include the notion that the war in Nicaragua—far from being a battle in the Cold War—was not a real conflict at all but rather a charade to cover up drug smuggling by rogue CIA agents. As Howard Kurtz

of The Washington Post remarked, "Oliver Stone, check your voice mail."17

## A Question of Trust

There will be other public relations crises with which CIA will have to contend. As John Ranelagh suggested 10 years ago in his history of CIA, $ ^{18} $ the attitude of the American people toward the Agency parallels its view of government generally; when the public's trust in politicians and government institutions sinks, CIA can expect to be a target, with the media the obvious delivery vehicle. If historians such as Samuel Huntington and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., are correct, we can expect periodic displays of public distrust in government roughly every 20 to 30 years—and we are just beginning such a phase. $ ^{19} $ In such times, even fantastic allegations about CIA—JFK's assassination, UFO coverups, or importing drugs into America's cities—will resonate with, and even appeal to, much of American society. At those times, it is especially important to have a professional public affairs staff help limit the damage and facilitate more balanced coverage of CIA.

## Societal Shortcomings

As a personal postscript, I would submit that ultimately the CIA-drug story says a lot more about American society on the eve of the millennium that it does about either CIA or the media. We live in somewhat coarse and emotional times—when large numbers of Americans do not adhere to the same standards of logic, evidence, or even civil discourse as those practiced by members of the

CIA community. $ ^{20} $ Venom against "CIA thuggery" can still be found in place of reasoned discourse in the public square. "Freeway Ricky" Ross, whom all agree actually brought the drugs into Los Angeles, was treated with deference and even respect on talk shows, while CIA—which is helping fight the drug scourge—was dragged through the mud. Public hearings on the allegations—even Congressional hearings—were marked by jeering or cheers from audiences less interested in truth than in having personal beliefs vindicated. Journalists who wrote articles skeptical of the charges against CIA were pilloried in print—one was accused of serving as a CIA lackey and even threatened with physical harm over their articles.

Because of episodes like the drug story, some Agency employees might conclude that there is scant public appreciation of their dedication and hard work and of the fact, that as citizens themselves, they are just as outraged as any other responsible group in American society about the damage done by drug trafficking. But most CIA employees probably will see the drug story as yet another bum rap-one that, in this case, was belatedly acknowledged as such by reputable journalists.

## NOTES

1. See the chapter on "Crisis Communications: Dealing With the Unforeseen," in Robert Dilenschneider and Dan Forrestal, The Dartnell Public Relations Handbook (Chicago: Dartnell, 1990), pp. 330- 347; emphasis by the author.

2. For example, "State NAACP Vows To Act on CIA-drug Reports," The Sunday Record (New Jersey),