Difficulties in giving news away

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 17

Difficulties in giving news away

(By

RUSSELL BAKER,

of the "New York Times" through N.ZP.A.)

WASHINGTON. In Washington classified documents are piling up in the corridors of the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House, and the men who are supposed to leak them to the press are in despair.

At the Pentagon the other day, for example, reporters

and famous syndicated columnists were going out of their way to avoid the Office of Overt Graduated Document Leakage. The man in charge there, whose code name is Bill, was standing in the hall buttonholing complete strangers. “Listen to this,” Bill said, flipping open the classified document which he was trying to leak. “This is the.latest secret report about the Russian missile build-up. I’m willing to leak it right away. It’s all yours, my friend, in the national security.”

“Not a chance.” “If this document isn’t published by tomorrow afternoon,” Bill argued, “we won’t possibly be able to panic the Congress in time to get it to vote us another five billion dollars for an American missile build-up, and then there will be a missile gap.” “That would be bad.”

"It certainly would,” Bill said, “you wouldn’t want to be responsible for damaging the national security by not taking a little leaked document, would you?” His lower lip was trembling. It was hard to give him the truth straight out, perhaps because this was the Pentagon. Still—-

‘Tm not a reporter, Bill.” “That’s all right,” Bill said. “You must know somebody who is a reporter, give it to him.”

He was still holding out the document for leaking when two strong men approached him pushing wheelbarrows loaded with the latest classified documents. “These are to be leaked immediately,” the first wheelbarrow pusher told Bill. “In the national security,” the other explained. “What do they reveal?”

Bill asked. He was near collapse. “That America’s enemies everywhere are moving ahead in every conceivable kind of armament and that Congress should therefore vote us more money at once,” said the first wheelbarrow-pusher. “In the national security,” said the other. Bill was weeping now. “What am I going to do?” he cried. "Since the Justice Department started taking people to court for possession of leaked documents, the press won’t take them any more.” "Why don’t you declassify them and issue them as press releases?” “Don’t talk nonsense at a time like this,” Bill blubbered. “No editor in his right mind would believe any of this stuff if we didn’t put ‘clasified’ labels on it.”

Suddenly, down a tnilelong corridor, Bill recognised a famous syndicated columnist, scooped up an armful of documents and ran full speed to intercept him. “Moe, baby,” he laughed, “look what I’ve got for you. A whole truckload of captured documents from North Vietnam proving once again that there is a wind’down at the end of the tunnel.’’ The famous syndicated columnist winced. “Not interested old boy,” he told Bill. “But they’re classified, Moe, classified, look at these labels, secret, super-secret, hyper-secret. Feel them, Moe. The ink is still wet.”

“Out of the question,” said the famous syndicated columnist “If the Justice Department takes me into court next week I won’t be able to get away on my summer vacation.”

Back in his office Bill’s telephone was ringing. It was a very loud general- “ Why haven’t you leaked those documents yet proving that communism will take over Samoa if Congress doesn’t buy me a new jet?” the general was demanding.

In front of the White House, Special Assistants for White House Leaks were trying to hustle documents among the sightseeing buses. “Clasified, you say?” asked a woman tourist “Hush-Hush and Upper-Level-Secret,” the documentleaker replied. “Proves indisputably that nothing can save the country but the reelection of the present Administration in 1972. Take it and pass it on to a friend who knows a reporter.”

The woman refused. She said it would be treasonous to be a party to publishing a document labelled “HushHush” and “Upper-Level-

Secret” The bus took her away while the Special Assistant for Leaks was explaining the difference between good leaks, which were patriotic, and bad leaks, which let people in on what was going on in Washington.