Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-06
BY RICHARD FRYKLUND
Star Staff Writer

The 16 Pentagon censors-
the men in the middle in the
tug of war between Secretary
of Defense Mcnamara and Sem
ators investigating "muzzling''
charges-believe that part of
the problem stems from changes
in the cold war climate.
Early last year when the
new administration was making
a new effort to find areas of
reasonable agreement with the
Kremlin, Pentagon review Of
ficers noted that State Depart
ment reviewers began to delete
what they regarded as "bellig-
erent" statements in military
speeches.
But when the climate changed
when Vienna showed that Mr..
KhruShchev was not being rea-
sonable and when the Berlin
crisis showed that this coun-
try had to be convincingly
tough-the tone of the speeches
was permitted to change.
Delicate Diplomacy"
The result, the censors say.
is that words and phrases
taken out by State Department
censors early in the year were
left in after the attempt at
a cold war thaw failed. ITO
outsiders this may look like
inconsistency" one of the CEN
sors said, "but actually we
were only taking part in some
delicate attempts at diplo-
macy"
Some of the deletions cited
by Stennis subcommittee men,
oers, the censors say, simply
cannot be explained in detail,
The reviewing officers do not
recall each phrase or the cir
cumstances of how it was
checked out.
Other deletions were the re-
suit of crash" speech clear
ance. "A speechmaker would
submit a speech at 8 pm. and
have to catch a plane for San
Francisco at S p.m.," a censor
said. I'VE would run into ques-
tionable phrases and tell him
that there was no time to check
thoroughly on whether the
phrase could go or not.
There was only one choice !:
Either cut the phrase to be on
the safe side or hold up the
speech. Usually the speechmak-
er chose to take the cut"
Five-Day Clearance
The normal requirement is
that speeches be submitted five
days before the clearance is
needed.
Most of the censors are men
with is to 20 years in the armed
services or other branches of
the Government, largely with
backgrounds in public informa-
ton and intelligence.
Here are some of the censors:
Charles w. Hinkle, director
of security review. Mr.. Hinkle
is a retired Air Force colonel
who was a newspaperman be-
fore World War II and who
served 20 years in public in
formation and security review
posts.
Roger Delaney. Mr.. Delaney,
the deputy director, has been
in Government service since
i941, mostly in the public in
formation field.
Willis D. Lawrence. With %
years in Government service,
Mr.. Lawrence is assistant di-
rector for policy. He is a grad
uate Of George Washington
University and testified before
the subcommittee last week.
In Navy Offices
Vincent c. Tompkins, jr.
Mr.. TompkinS is assistant di-
rector for security. He was in
charge of security matters in
various naval offices for many
years.
Army Col. Thompson M
Colkitt. A Silver Star and
Bronze Star winner, Col. Col
kit was a security review and
censorship officer during the
Korean War. He has a mas
ter's degree from the University
of Virginia.
Army 1t. Col. Roy T. Jack
son. Col. Jackson has been a
public information officer and
was a student in the advanced