Security & Information

The Eisenhower Administration, whose press relations have been under attack by Washington newsmen (TIME, Oct. 26), last week tried to end some of the criticism; it got ready to ease the regulations on classified information. But the announcement of the change only served to touch off another flurry of complaints.

The regulations, originally put into effect two years ago by Harry Truman, gave Government departments the right to classify information for security reasons, i.e., label it "top secret," "secret," etc. Newsmen complained that the order could easily be abused by bureaucrats with nothing to hide but their own mistakes. Last week Presidential Press Secretary James Hagerty announced that there would be a new executive order on classified information. Under the new order, 29 Government departments, e.g., Veterans Administration, War Claims Commission, will be stripped of the right to classify information. Sixteen other departments, e.g., Civil Aeronautics Board, Subversive Activities Control Board, may still classify, but only with the approval of the department head.

In giving advance notice of the new policy on the Du Mont network's TV panel show, The Big Issue, Hagerty found himself under fire. His attacker: the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Washington Correspondent Raymond ("Pete") Brandt, who was still smarting over the Warren leak (TIME, Oct. 12). "The information order relates to the classification of documents," said Brandt, "[which] gave us very little trouble under the Truman Administration." Even if a document had been classified, he argued, newsmen had ready access to Government officials who would give the information they wanted. "The present Administration," said Brandt, "[seems] to be afraid of newspapermen; they don't trust them and they don't realize the position of the newspaper in national life."

Before the week was out, Brandt got support for his criticisms from two oddly matched allies. New York Daily News Columnist John O'Donnell, whose paper supported Eisenhower, thought some of the "storm and fury" over Ike's press relations was justified. Though his hatred of Franklin D. Roosevelt has never abated, O'Donnell nevertheless wrote that "Ike's relations with the press . . . are not as effective as those of Roosevelt or ... Harry Truman [and] the relations of Ike's Cabinet members with the [press] are bad--very bad." Added Fair Dealing Columnist Marquis Childs: "Many working newspapermen [complain] that the flow of news has been greatly reduced in recent months . . . Whether [the new order] will achieve the desired end is open to question . . . The negative step of removing restrictions [on classified information] is not enough. There must be a positive incentive for giving out information."

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