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                            THE WHITE HOUSE
                     Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   October 24, 2000
                             PRESS BRIEFING
                                   BY
                              JAKE SIEWERT
                    The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:27 P.M. EDT
     Q    Jake, did the White House have any influence on the CIA's
decision to release documents surrounding the period of the coup that
brought Pinochet to power; that decision reverses Tenet's earlier
position in August that he would withhold those documents.
     MR. SIEWERT:  I think our role in the press reports was somewhat
overstated.  The system worked here and the DCI and the National
Security Advisor agreed to a further review of the documents that were
withheld in August.  Based on that review and discussions that he had
with Mr. Berger, the DCI decided to release additional documents.  Those
documents have now been redacted to protect intelligence sources and
methods, and so we'll have a final release of those documents on Monday,
November 13th.  But in the end, the DCI made the right decision, we
think.
     Q    Was it Mr. Berger's position that additional documents should,
indeed, be released?
     MR. SIEWERT:  I think as a result of the review that we undertook
by the NSC staff, the State Department discussions within the entire
team there, the DCI made a decision to release those documents.  I'm not
going to characterize all the decision-making that took place there.
     MR. CROWLEY:  It's close collaboration by the DCI and the National
Security Advisor, both to extend the review and then we'll reach this
decision.
                           END 12:55 P.M. EDT