Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company
Tuesday, June 13, 2000

CIA tries to muzzle former Mogadishu Station Chief

(See the orignal story about Jones and Spinelli in Mogadishu)

By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Central Intelligence Agency has forbidden two former operatives from
appearing on a History Channel television documentary to discuss the
agency's chaotic role in supporting U.S. troops in Somalia unless all
questions and answers are submitted in advance to CIA officials for
review.

Garrett Jones, the CIA's former station chief in Mogadishu, and his former
deputy, John Spinelli, agreed to appear on the History Channel series
"True Adventures of the CIA" shortly after describing the agency's Somalia
operation in a February cover story in The Washington Post Magazine.

In the article, Jones told how his case officers worked round-the-clock
producing intelligence leads that fueled a futile search by Delta Force
commandos for Somali clan leader Mohamed Farah Aideed. Spinelli almost
died when he drove into an ambush and was shot in the neck and chest.

Both Jones and Spinelli were critical of the way they were treated at CIA
headquarters upon their return from Somalia.

But shortly before they were to be interviewed last week by History
Channel producers, the CIA's Publication Review Board warned them against
appearing without submitting all questions and answers in advance, saying
they discussed information in the Post article "that was and remains
inappropriate for disclosure in the public domain."

The Publication Review Board is responsible for making sure all current
and former CIA employees abide by the terms of lifetime secrecy
agreements. Those agreements require them to submit for prepublication
review anything related to intelligence that they intend to publish or
broadcast.

In a May 23 letter to Jones, the review board's chairman, Scott A. Koch,
wrote that any appearance on the History Channel would require
prepublication review. Koch noted that failure to abide by the review
process could make Jones and Spinelli "subject to criminal or civil
penalties--or both."

Jones responded in a letter to Koch last week that he was "surprised and
puzzled" by the CIA's response, because its Office of Public Affairs had
already granted "informal" approval to the TV segment on Somalia. Jones
said he also "took great care in my discussions with The Washington Post
to ensure that nothing I discussed in the article was sensitive or
classified."

Jones said yesterday that senior officials, angered by his criticisms, are
now trying to muzzle him. "This is the old boy network at work again,"
Jones said.

CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said the Office of Public Affairs had
discussed the Somalia segment with producers from the History Channel but
had made no commitment to cooperate with them.

As for Jones' claim that CIA officials are attempting to muzzle him,
Mansfield said: "That's simply not the case."

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