BALANCING CITIZENS' NEED TO GOVERNMENT'S NEED TO CREATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970035-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: December 4, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970035-5
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NEW YORK TIMES
1. DECEMBER 1981
Issue and Debate
Balances Citizens'Need to
ByJONATHAN FRIENiDLY
How much is a citizen entitled to
know about how the Federal Govem
ment works? Which of its records may
the Government justifiably keep se-
cret?
Since 1974, the answers to these
questions have been specified in the
Freedom of Information Act, widely
described as a landmark piece of legis.
lation that put teeth into a decade4ong
effort to insure that most Government
files would be open to the public In the
last several months the Reagan Ad.
ministration and a group of senators
have proposed broad changes in the
act to create new restrictions on the
availability of certain information,
particularly in areas of law enforce-
ment, intelligence and busuiess regw
laticn
Those proposals have started a new
debate over the proper balance be.
tween demands for openness and the
need for secrecy, which often conflict.
At the heart of the debateisa philo.
sophic disagreement over the validity
of what one Government study of the
act termed "the ptesurapttan that the
Government and the information of
government belong to the people."
The Background
Like other organizatlans, govern.
meats find it is easier when their deci-
sions are not subject to challenge or couragni from cooperating because
second-guessing. Keeping private the they believe the act means the ages.
documents on which decisions are ciescannotkeeptheirnamessecret.
based helps reduce tbechallenges. ? - They do not contend that secrets
Since the earliest yeareef there pub. have routinely been disclosed, but .
lic, rules about what ishds-of govern. rather that there is. a "perception"
meet retards the public-could ask for abroad that such disclosures are inevi-
and get evolved from laws on admirnis. table with the law written as it is. That 1
trative practice that were primarily position has been bolstered by various
designed to help accomplish the age books and magazines based. on public
cies' "housekeeping" tasks. Time records that have disclosed the names
rules tended to legitimize the bureau. of American agents abroad. To re.craticimpulsetosay"no." verse the apprehensions abroad, the
As the Federal Government grew agencies say, their records should be
after World War II, Congress increes- exempted . entirely from. any forced
ingly discovered it needed access to disclosu, This is a position the Ad.
administrative files. In 1958, legisla,. ministration supports but it is sched.
tion sponsored by Representative John ' tiled to be debated separately from the
Mass.-Democrat of California. and otherproposalstochanitetbeact.
of Missouri, shifted the emphasis to. decisions to withhold security ties, files, a change that is supported by the
ward broadened. availability. of - `! provision that would be limited under opponents of broader amendmentrecords. But many departments con. the Administration proposals. In the
tinned to follow the more restrictive moat reoeut Weil-publicized . case in., -
Administratlve Procedures Act. wlildt
11+ ~
allowed withholding of Q doc~tmmb
when secrecy was "in the public inter. .~
.III
.ct"n."fare Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970035-5
In 1966, Congress enacted the rree-
dom of Information Act, widely e
ferred to by its initials. F.O.I.A. For
the first time, this act said that any
person aas?entitled to most identifia.
.ble records without having to give a
reason. While it established certain
categories of exempt records, the act
reversed for most of the bureaucracy a
long-held presumption, placing on the
Government agency the burden of
proving that it was entitled to withhold
a requested file.
-Eight years later Congress, sensi?'
tired by the Watergate scandals to the
possibility that Government officials`
'might use the stamp of "national se-
.curity" to conceal records of illegal or
venal behavior, amended the act to
create new protections against the ar-
bitrary closing of files. The amend.;
meats were enacted over the veto of,
President Ford.
ForRestrictions
Even . before ? President Reagan's
election, a variety of Government
agencies and private groups began
volvin
uphek
a for
noted:
socier
waste
jury tc
cess na
Law
the Fe
Service and the Drug Enforcement
Administration, contend that crimi.
nals have used the act to get records on
investigation. They say that the indi-
vidual records are innocuous, but that
they can be put together in ways that
hint at investigative methods and the
identities of informers. William H.
Webster. the director of the F.B.I.,.
said Joanne Chesimard, a convicted
murderer and leader of militants, had
obtained 1.700 pages of documents that
may have helped her elude recapture
after her escape from a New Jersey
prison. .
The agencies say the Attorney Gen_ 1
eral should decide whether to withhold
asking for changes in the act. Part of _,,records on terrorism, organized came '
the pressure came from the intelli. and foreign counter-intelligence and
gene community. the Central Intelli- ; that they should be allowed to keep se.
gene.. National Security and Defense cret records that would "tend" to des..
Intelligence agencies in particular. In close the identity of sources.
Senate subcommittee hearings and in : In recent years, business has be.''
public speeches, they have argued that come the most frequent user of theact
potential informants abroad are dis- with domestic and foreign companies
asking for files of agencies such as the
Food and Drug Administration and the
Federal Trade Commission to find out
what their competitors are doing. The law "was not intended to provide the
.K.G.B. ora German industrialist with
information about the United States."
said Jonathan C. Rose, Assistant At-
torney General for legal policy. The
Administration bill would exempt
commercial or financial information it
disclosure "may impair" business in-
terests.
All the agencies complain.that the
volume of requests puts heavy and,
costly demands on their staffs even be-
fore a decision can be made on the
propriety of releasing the files. The
bill would allow the agencies to charge
vzrnment's Need to Crea