Presidential records put under gag order

By Bob Kemper
Washington Bureau

November 2, 2001

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed an executive order Thursday giving him unprecedented power to keep presidential papers secret, even those that would have been released after the 12-year wait now required by law.

The order outraged advocates of declassifying records, who charged that it was unlawful and would usher in a new era of government secrecy. They also expressed concerns that the order would allow the president to block the release of information involving Bush aides who served under the two previous Republican administrations under Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush and now are helping to run the war on terrorism.

The order was signed as the administration moved on other fronts to get out its message, opening offices in London and Pakistan to rebut reports from the Taliban government, launching a public-relations campaign at home to reassure Americans that the White House was prepared to handle the anthrax threat, and scheduling diplomatic meetings to help Bush solidify support for the U.S-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

Bush aides began drafting the executive order in May in response to the scheduled release of some 68,000 pages of records from the Reagan administration, as required by the 1978 Presidential Records Act. The documents were to be released in January but the current administration put off the release three times to review legal questions.

White House chief counsel Alberto Gonzales said the president was mainly concerned about releasing papers that could compromise national security.

But Gonzales said he could not give an example in which national security was jeopardized by the release of such papers, while historians insisted safeguards existed against the release of such sensitive information.

Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, said the order would provide an "orderly process" to help archivists handle requests for the papers and that "more information will be forthcoming" because of the action.

White House officials said Bush would not block documents just because they might embarrass current aides, such as Elliot Abrams, who was indicted but later pardoned for his involvement in the Iran-contra affair, and John Negroponte, a controversial ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s. Abrams now works at the National Security Council while Negroponte is ambassador to the United Nations.

Other Reagan aides now in the current Bush administration include Secretary of State Colin Powell, Budget Director Mitch Daniels Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

White House officials said the president also was not trying to prevent the release of documents that reflect unfavorably on his father, who was Reagan's vice president before winning the presidency in 1988.

"This is not about trying to protect embarrassing documents," Gonzales said.

Bush's order would allow him to block the release of any presidential papers for a variety of reasons even if the former president wished to have his documents made public.

The Presidential Records Act was in response to Watergate investigation and former President Nixon's attempts to hold on to his papers and tape recordings. It made presidential records the property of government, not former presidents.

Law has 12-year cap

Under the 1978 law, presidential records are to be released after 12 years, except for those withheld for national security or certain personal reasons specified by law. A former president can claim executive privilege to prevent the release of certain documents, and under Bush's order a sitting president could not force their release.

"It will not be driven by politics or what looks good, it will be driven by what is allowed under the Constitution," Gonzales said. "Look, we haven't withheld a single document yet."

Historians speculated that the White House might be worried that the war on terrorism may generate documents the Bush administration would rather not see exposed down the road.

"I think their motive is to have control of their own records" after Bush leaves office, said Anna Nelson, a historian at American University.

In the information war being waged overseas, the administration is setting up the offices in London and Pakistan to get out its side of the story to the international news media.

While the U.S. news media have been seen as largely sympathetic toward the bombing in Afghanistan, an anti-American sentiment pervades foreign coverage of the war in the Middle East and elsewhere, White House officials said.

That kind of coverage is fanning resentment among Muslims in other countries whose leaders support America, such as Pakistan.

Making the rounds

As part of the effort to broaden the U.S. message abroad, Bush plans to meet key foreign leaders next week in Washington as a prelude to his debut speech before the United Nations' General Assembly on Nov. 10.

Bush will meet with the leaders of Britain, France, India, Brazil, Ireland and Algeria. He is also scheduled to meet with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in New York during the UN meeting.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said the president also will launch a public-relations campaign at home to reassure the public that the administration is in control of the mail-borne anthrax attacks, which have spread in recent weeks and account for four deaths.

Bush will address via satellite a gathering of Central European nations in Warsaw to talk about how they can aid the war on terrorism.

The president also will make a major address to the American public next week, though the White House has not announced the date or the type of forum.

Tribune news services contributed to this report

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