Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-11

Secrecy in Government when
used with common sense" was
defended yesterday by a former
igeneral counsel Of the Defense
Department.
He is Robert Dechert, who
was the principal speaker at a
conference at the 55th annual
meeting Of the American Po-
litical Science Association on
the subject. Secrecy in Gov
eminent: Does 1t Exist?"
Mr.. Dechert said that gov
ornamental information should
not be divulged II it would en-
danger the common safety" or
violate common decency."
Following Mr.. Dechert's talk.
the subject Of governmental Sc
crecy was debated by a Ave-
man panel.
Members Of the panel were
j. Russell Virgins. executive
editor the Washington Post and
Times Herald: Benjamin M.
McKelway. editor of The Eve
ming Star; Daniel c. McCauley.
associate general counsel Sc
curities Exchange Commission:
Fred Greene, associate profess
sor Of political science, Williams
College, and Paul Southwick.
staff member of the special
House Subcommittee on Gov
eminent Information.
Security Discussed
Discussing classification Of
Defense Department documents
for security reasons, Mr.. De-
ebert said that he had never
seen this type Of secrecy in
voked to hide embarrassing |
mistakes"
On the withholding of infor-
nation of a non-security ma
ture. Mr.. Dechert said that this
can be justified in some cases.
For example. he said, "prelim-
mary advice to decision-makers
from their advisers" should not
be made public.
One disadvantage Of disclos-
ing this type of information, he
said, is that it would leave the
decision-maker subject to Sec
ond-guessing by those who may
rummage through all the advice
given to him before he made
the decision in question.
Another, he continued, would
be that publicity would discour-
age advisers from giving out
spoken advice.
Mr.. Dechert said a Govern
ment official should no more be
criticized for not revealing the
advice given to him by his ad-
visers than newspaper editor
should be blamed for not dis
closing the views of his editorial
writer's on a particular issue.
Protection Questioned
In the panel discussion, Mr..
McKelway said "a degree of
secrecy is vital in the successful
administration of Government
or any other human enterprise"
However, he added. he believes
that in some cases secrecy is
being used in Government to
protect politicians rather than
the national interest.
At the same time, he said
he thinks "the operations of
Government are more OF an
open book today than they ever
were"
And, he continued, the Ma
tons newspapers face a far
more important challenge in
making certain they are playing
a responsible role in the dis
tribution of governmental in
formation than 'in promoting
the idea that Government is
deliberately withholding infor-
nation people are entitled to
know"
Mr.. Virgins said that he
hoped Mr.. Dechert was not Sc
rious in his address in compar-
ing decisions made in an edi-
torial conference of a privately
operated newspaper with action
taken by officials in public
Office.
He warned that there is IAN
ingrained tendency to secrecy"
In Government and said that
use of security classifications
is often abused.
Lag Seen in Secrecy
Mr.. Virgins added that there
has been substantial testimony
by competent military and
scientific personnel that excess
sive secrecy is actually retard-
ing this country's defense pro-
gram.
Mr.. McCauley said that tits
not popular to say that you're