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14 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 339 (1981-1982)
Balancing National Security and Free Speech

handle is hein.journals/nyuilp14 and id is 349 raw text is: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL
LAW AND POLITICS
VOL. 14                WINTER 1982                     NO. 2
BALANCING NATIONAL SECURITY
AND FREE SPEECH
THOMAS M. FRANCK*
JAMES J. EiSENt
I. INTRODUCTION
The Director of Central Intelligence has a statutory duty
to protect intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized
disclosure.1 He discharges this obligation in part by routinely
requiring employees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA
or Agency) to sign secrecy agreements upon entering and
leaving its employ.2 At the heart of these agreements is a
promise by employees not to divulge without Agency approval
any information relating to the Agency or its intelligence ac-
tivities.3 This contractual prohibition extends to the publica-
tion of manuscripts about the CIA that have not been submit-
* Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Intcernational
Studies, New York University.
f Member of the New York Bar; J.D., New York University, 1980.
1. 50 U.S.C. §§ 403(d), (g) (1976). This responsibility is sufficiently
specific to constitute an exemption from requests under the Freedom of
Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b) (1976). See Baker v. Central Intelli-
gence Agency, 580 F.2d 664, 667-68 (D.C. Cir. 1978). It has also bccn held
to justify defamation that is designed to expose Soviet spies in the United
States. Hein v. Raus, 339 F.2d 785, 789-90 (4th Cir. 1968), cer. drnitd, 402
U.S. 914 (1971).
2. See generally Comment, Governmnt Secrecy Agreements and the First
Amendment, 28 Am. U.L. Rev. 395, 397-400 (1979).
3. Employee Secrecy Agreement between the CIA and Frank Sncpp,
III (Sept. 16, 1968), reprinted in Petition for Certiorari, Appendix at 58a,
59a, Snepp v. United States, 444 U.S. 507 (1980) [hereinafter Sccrccy
Agreement]. Snepp's secrecy agreement is typical of the agrccmcnts that
the CIA requires its agents to sign as a prerequisite to commencing employ-
ment with the Agency.
339

Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics

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