The Government's Mania for Secrecy

President Ronald Reagan nicknamed 1987 "The Year of the Reader," but throughout 1987 the Reagan administration outdid itself in its efforts to control, interpret, manipulate, disinform, and censor all forms of information.

Typical of the Reagan administration's effort to control its own destiny and the nation's history was the Justice Department memorandum that could enable Reagan to control the history of his involvement in the Iran-contra scandal. The administration is seeking to overturn a 1986 federal court ruling that limited Nixon's right to block the release of his White House papers. The Justice Department memorandum, filed in a lawsuit, would allow Nixon to withdraw any documentation he thought should be suppressed. In effect, this would put Nixon in control of U.S. history between 1968 and 1974. If Nixon wins, it will pave the way for Reagan to determine official U.S. history from 1980 to 1988. While alarming, this is only one small example of Reagan's mania for secrecy. Following are the reports of three groups that tried to warn us about what was happening.

PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY. This group's report provides more than 100 pages of well-documented charges concerning the growing trend toward secrecy in government and its threat to American democracy. It "tells the story of the institutionalization of secrecy throughout the federal government...the story of unprecedented controls on information, not only on defense and foreign policy issues where legitimate secrets do need to be protected, but on a host of topics vital to our daily lives, from toxic wastes to occupational hazards, from new technology to the health of our children."

THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. This group issued an alert about how the Reagan administration and its supporters restrict public access to government information. The 50-page report lists 135 specific actions that have occurred since 1981, including threatened prosecution of the press publishing classified information; expulsion of foreign journalists; proposed amendments to weaken the Freedom of Information Act; and the use of lie detectors.

THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. The latest edition of the association's annual report on censorship provides a damning indictment of Reagan administration efforts to "restrict and privatize government information" such as public documents and statistics. The 1987 report adds 78 items to the case for Reagan's secrecy mania.

Sources:

THE NATION, May 23, 1987, "History Deleted";

GOVERNMENT DECISIONS WITHOUT DEMOCRACY, December 1987, by People for the American Way;

FYI MEDIA ALERT 1987, March 1987, "The Reagan Administration and the News Media," by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press;

THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Washington Office, "Less Access to Less Information By and About the U.S. Government: IX," December 1987, by Anne A. Heanue.

From: UTNE READER, September/October 1988, pp. 86-87.