Evening star., 1947-10-23
',.i|itarykind' : is Seen
In Plan for New Form
0fCiviIian Censorship
Security Regulations
Code to Be Put Before
President Shortly
Bv David Laurence

President Shortly
By David Laurence
The influence Of the. military
mind" is slowly but surely making
itself felt in the American Gov
eminent.
A new form of censorship at the
source is contemplated. If put into
effect, it will be applied to the
entire civilian government. It will
tend to squelch criticism of the
Government and also will set off a
chain reaction Of disbelief through
out the country in what the Gov
ernment does say.
President Truman will have be-
fore him shortly set of regulations
drafted for him by subordinates.
The ostensible objective is "secu-
rity'-a phrase which was used for
many purposes during the war and
not always with military need.
The definition of confidential in
formation" In the draft of the pro-
posed regulations for the handling
and transmission of such informa-
ton runs as follows:
Confidential information is in
formation the unauthorized disclo-
sure Of which. although not endan-
gering the national security, would
be prejudicial to the interests or
prestige of the Nation, any gov
ernmental activity, or an individ-
ual; or would cause serious
administrative embarrassment or
difficulty"
Origin and Design.
This originated, to be sure, out
Of the requirements of the Presi-
dents Loyalty Committee dealing
with communism and is designed
to enable Government officials to
transmit documents to one another
without fear of unauthorized dis
closure.
During the war no censorship law
was deemed necessary, as the press
exercised a voluntary censorship.
Various efforts have been made
from time to time to get Congress
to pass bills governing "unauthor-
lied disclosures" and the present
statutes take care of the situation
adequately insofar as it concerns
disclosure by Government en-
ploye OF the contents of any con-
fidential document to an outsider.
But there is line of demarcation
between truly secret documents
which have a security" meaning
and the careless labelling as con
fldential" or secret" of anything
which some bureaucrat merely wants
to keep away from the eyes of a
vigilant press.
1t would be very difficult for a
Government employe to talk to any
member of the press If he felt he
might be dismissed because the in
formation impaired would In the
judgment of his superior be con-
strued as likely "to cause serious ad-
ministrative embarrassment or diff
ficulty."
Also it cannot be left to Govern
ment employees to decide what would
or would not be "prejudicial to the
interests or prestige of the Nation,
any governmental activity, or an in
dividual."
Plainly, there never was a better
scheme to cover up fraud and scan-
dal In Government, as we'll as bad
administration, than the proposed
regulation. Miscreants could readily
hide behind such a censorship wall.
Incredible, If Approved.
1t would be incredible If President
Truman ever approved any such
language. II he did, he might find
himself on the defensive In the next
political campaign. He might also
find congressional investigating COM
mittees boring into the subject quite
extensively, with consequent pub
licity that would not be politically
helpful to an administration seeking
continuance in office beyond 1948
It may be confidently expected
that Mr.. Truman will emasculate
the regulation and conf1ne it to the
unauthorized disclosure of docu-
ments marked as restricted" by
someone high enough up in Gov
ernment department to distinguish
between public and private informa-
ton.
What is more important than the
language ultimately to be used in
such regulation is that the draft
quoted above should emerge at all
Certainly it would be the sheerest
hypocrisy for American officials to
pirate about the iron curtain" and
restrictions imposed by the Russians
and at the same time issue an edict
virtually forbiddlng Government
employees to talk to the press. Cen
sorship at the source can be far
more effective In suppressing the
truth than actual censorship be-
fore publication. For if the press
cannot get the information, in the
first instance, there would be little
for a Government censor to pass
upon.
Sooner or later the military
minds" in our Government must
discover that. the Bill of Rights
really means freedom. to gather in
formation to which the people are
entitled and that, in peacetime at
least, Government must be able so
to conduct it's affairs administra-
lively as to protect really secret in
formation from leaking out. 1t is a
simple problem to train Govern
ment officials how to use the ord
mary rules of discretion or common
sense. Threats of dismissal on
loyalty" issues are superfluous
where the officials in charge OF in
formation are possessed of an un-
derstanding of what is or is not
dangerous to tell the press.
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