WAR DOCUMENTS Publication halt requested

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32634, 16 June 1971, Page 17

WAR DOCUMENTS Publication halt requested

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, June 15. The Justice Department asked the “New York Times” last night to refrain from further publication of documents drawn from a Pentagon study’of the Vietnam war on the ground that it would cause “irreparable injury to the defence interests of the United States,” the New York Times News Service reported. If the newspaper refused, the department said that it would try to forbid further publication by Court action later today.

The department’s request and intention to seek a Court enjoinder

were conveyed by Mr Robert Mardian, Assistant Attorney-General in charge of the Internal Security Division, to Mr Harding Bancroft, executive vice-president of the “New York Times.” They spoke by telephone about an hour and 45 minutes before yesterday’s first edition of the newspaper was scheduled to go to press, with the third instalment of the articles about the Pentagon study. The “New York Times” issued the following statement:

“We have received the telegram from the Attorney-Gen-eral asking the Times’ to cease further publication of the Pentagon’s Vietnam study. ' Paper refuses “The Times’ must respectfully decline, believing that it is in the interest of the people of this country to be informed of the material contained in this series of articles.

“We have also been informed of the Attorney-Gen-eral's intention to seek an injunction against further >ublication. We believe that it is properly a matter for the. Court to decide. "The Times’ will oppose any request for an injunction for the same reason that led us to publish the articles in the first place. We will, of course, abide by the final decision of the Court.” According to the Associa-

ted Press, the first edition of the “New York Times” which was delayed one hour, said that the telegram received by the publisher, Mr Arthur Sulzberger, from Mr John Mitchell, said that the At-torney-General had been informed by the Defence Secretary (Mr Melvin Laird) that the material published by the newspaper “contains information relating to the national defence of the United States and bears a top-secret classification. “As such, publication of this information is directly prohibited by the provisions of the espionage law. . .. Return sought “The ‘New York Times’ quoted the telegram as saying, ‘Moreover, further publication of information of this character will cause irreparable injury to the defence interests of the United States.” The “New York Times” said that the telegram also asked for the return of the documents to the Defence Department N.Z.P.A.-Reuter reported that publication of the documents had stirred a controversy in Washington, where Senate doves view them as proof that the United States was brought into the war by the former President Mr Johnson, by stealth and deceit

The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into how the “New York Times” got the documents, after Mr Laird alleged that release of the papers to the “New York Times” violated national security.

President Nixon was being kept in touch with de-

velopments as, the bureau swung into action, questioning top government officials. The documents, as published by the "New York Times,” showed that Mr Johnson planned to involve the United States months before the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which two American warships were reported to have been attacked by Communist gunboats in August, 1964. After his decision he conducted a Presidential election campaign against Senator Barry Goldwater in which the issues were largely fought over the intensity of the Vietnam war. The documents, appearing in the newspaper over a period of several days, revealed that progressive American involvement in the war developed with far greater intensity begining with Mr Harry Truman —than was acknowledged by the Government. Pentagon copies The Pentagon indicated that the leak of the papers occurred outside its own five walls, saying that all its copies were accounted for. About half a dozen copies reportedly were made, some of them for key Congressmen and ofte or two for other Government agencies although the White House was not on the distribution list President Nixon was hastily provided with a report today, but the Presidential press secretary, Mr Ronald Ziegler said all the information on which it was based was made available to him when he took office in January, 1969.