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Exhibit 1011

Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story

Exhibit 1011 · Agency journal article

Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story

a ground base of already productive relations with journalists and an effective response by the Director of Central Intelligence's (DCI) Public Affairs Staff (PAS) helped prevent this story from becoming an unmitigated disaster.

Six-page article by a Directorate of Intelligence officer on the Public Affairs Staff's handling of the 'Dark Alliance' series (August 1996 onward). Describes calls from journalists, distribution of the DCI's letter and of critical stories to reporters and former officials, and counts of skeptical versus negative stories; credits the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times critiques; says Public Affairs 'cannot dictate stories to the media.' Calls the series 'a genuine public relations crisis' and records the Mercury News executive editor's May 1997 apology. States that 'The growth in balanced reporting was largely due to the criticisms of the San Jose Mercury-News series by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and especially The Los Angeles Times.'

Source
Central Intelligence Agency, Studies in Intelligence (Nicholas Dujmovic)
Date
Written after December 1997; approved for release 29 July 2014
Quoted from
Opening page (reprint p. 1)
Grade
Primary record
Document
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/0001372115
Accessed
2026-11-10
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit
Note
Image-only PDF read by OCR. Copy used: web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001372115.pdf (cia.gov redirected scripted requests). Other exact lines: 'Public Affairs cannot dictate stories to the media'; 'the PAS aims above all to inform rather than to pressure or to persuade'; 'Public Affairs made sure that reporters and news directors ... received copies of these more balanced stories.' Further exact wording (page images of the 2014 release): p. 12: 'The growth in balanced reporting was largely due to the criticisms of the San Jose Mercury-News series by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and especially The Los Angeles Times.'; p. 11: 'Public Affairs made sure that reporters and news directors calling for information—as well as former Agency officials, who were themselves representing the Agency in interviews with the media—received copies of these more balanced stories.' The article is one officer's account, not an Agency finding.

Cited by

Finding INF-2.11
Primary record An article by a CIA Directorate of Intelligence officer in the Agency's own journal says "a ground base of already productive relations with journalists" and the Public Affairs Staff's response "helped prevent this story from becoming an unmitigated disaster," and describes sending critical stories to reporters and counting skeptical and negative stories.
Finding INF-5.4
Primary record Nicholas Dujmovic, a CIA Directorate of Intelligence officer, wrote an article in the Agency's journal Studies in Intelligence, written after December 1997 and approved for release on 29 July 2014. It says "a ground base of already productive relations with journalists" and the Public Affairs Staff "helped prevent this story from becoming an unmitigated disaster." It credits the Post, Times and Los Angeles Times criticism of the series with "balanced reporting" and says Public Affairs made sure reporters and news directors received copies of those stories.