WHITE HOUSE 'ELF' DIGESTS NEWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201220008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 11, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201220008-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE ~7A
USA TODAY
11 August 1983
White House `elf' digests news
By Carol Pugh
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - Bruce
Young compares himself to
one of those toad-like charac-
ters in the fantasy tales who
sneaks in during the night and
fixes shoes for the poor old cob-
bler.
The toad-like characters
were called Norns in Norse
mythology. Bruce Young is
called a White House aide.
And benefiting from his late-
night activities-is the president
of the United States.
The 22-year-old Young pro-
duces the White House News
Summary, one of the few docu-
ment reaching President Rea-
gan directly.
What Young assembles dur-
ing the night, President Rea-
gan sees with his breakfast ev-
ery weekday morning. Top pol-
icy-makers also receive
copies. So do 175 other admin-
istration officials.
The News Summary is a re-
port of about 25 to 30 letter-size
pages duplicated and machine-
stapled. condenses what the
press has to say about events
involving the administration.
To prepare it, Young reads
through four papers - The
Washington Post, The New
York Times, The Washington
Times, The Wall Street Jour-
nal. Be monitors five wire ser-
vices - Associated Press, Unit-
ed Press International, Gan-
nett News Service, Reuters and
the Chicago Sun-Times Wire -
for stories about the president,
his Cabinet and advisers.
Young will quote verbatim
the major items in the news
stories. He underlines the
headline and lists the writer
and newspaper.
Young includes the bitter
and the sweet, even if it's some-
thing the president might not
want to wake up to.
He says he places "more em-
phasis on the critical stuff be-
cause, in my mind, in that way
they know where the fire is
coming from."
There are some ground
rules. The White House News
Summary staff of three never
draws the president's attention
to stories not directly about the
administration.
Young starts work at 10:30
p.m in the Old Executive Office
Building, next to the White
House. By midnight be's on his
own with a TV set going
Around 5 am., he starts to
duplicate the news summaries,
usually finishing just before 7.
"It's like firing an artillery
barrage," Young said of his 7
a.m. deliveries of the news
summary. "They're landing all
over the place.
Young, a 1982 journalism
graduate from Washington and
Lee University in Lexington,
Va., started the job last May.
He landed the job after hear-
ing that an acquaintance on the
staff was leaving After sending
his application to the editor,
Bill Hart, he was interviewed
by Deputy Press Secretary
Larry Speakes, who makes the
final decision on hirings.
By Lee Anderson
YOUNG: On the lookout for
news for President Reagan.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201220008-3