October 4, 1951
THE PRESIDENT. Please sit down.
I haven't been late for a long time, but I thought I would keep you waiting a little while.
[1.] I know what you are interested in. You are interested in censorship. And I don't believe in it. So just to keep you busy, I am going to read you a statement.
Q. Is that prepared for us?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes.
[Reading, not literally] "There has been considerable misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Executive order issued on September 24, 1951, relating to the handling of information which has been classified, in order to protect the national security."
And right here I want to stop and tell you that Central Intelligence had Yale University make a survey, and that survey found--and they had no connection with the Government-that 95 percent of all our information was public property.
"This Executive order represented an honest effort to find the best approach to a problem that is important to the survival of the United States of America. I issued the order with great reluctance, and only when I was convinced, after lengthy consideration, that it was necessary to protect the United States against its potential enemies. I think my record in defending civil liberties in this country demonstrates that I have no desire to suppress freedom of speech, or freedom of the press.
"I would like for the public to understand what this order undertakes to do, and why it was necessary to issue it.
"In its simplest terms, the problem is what we should do to keep military and related secrets from falling into the hands of the enemies of the United States. I do not believe that anyone could seriously contend that military secrets should be published in the newspapers, or that anyone has a right or a duty to see that military secrets are published. I believe that everyone, including Members of Congress and newspaper editors, should think twice before advocating a theory that would lead to that result.
"Whether it be treason or not, it does the United States just as much harm for military secrets to be made known to potential enemies through open publication, as it does for military secrets to be given to an enemy through the clandestine operations of spies." There isn't any difference at all.
"On the other hand, I do not believe that protection of military secrets should be made a cloak or a cover for withholding from the people information about their Government which should be made known to them. I believe that everyone, including Government officials, should try to prevent this from happening.
"It is easy to agree on these two objectives, but it was difficult to establish the means for accomplishing both of them.
"In those agencies of the Government primarily concerned with national security matters, such as the Department of State and the Department of Defense, we have had for a number of years a system of classifying information to prevent its disclosure to unauthorized persons when it would be dangerous to the national security. This system has worked reasonably well, although it has not in all instances prevented the publication of information which aided our enemies against the United States, and in other cases it has been used to classify information which actually has no particular relationship to national security."
Those are the two things that we are faced with, how to prevent our military secrets from becoming the possessions of our enemies, and how to be sure that, in doing that, we don't cover up information that ought to be made public.
[Continuing reading] "In the present defense mobilization period, it has become necessary in an increasing number of cases to make military secrets available to executive agencies other than the military departments, in order that these other agencies might effectively perform their functions that are necessary in supporting the defense effort. It is also necessary for some of these civilian agencies--such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for example--to originate and protect some information vital to our defense.
"It should be readily apparent that military secrets in the hands of these other agencies should be protected just as much as when they are in the hands of the military departments. It would also seem to be sensible to provide that different agencies take the same kind of precautions to protect this information. It would not make any sense to have a paper containing military secrets carefully locked up in a safe in the Pentagon, with a copy of the same paper left lying around on the desk of a lawyer in the Justice Department.
"Now, the purpose of this Executive order is to provide a commonsense answer to these problems. It is to provide that information affecting the national security shall continue to be protected when it gets out of the hands of the military departments and into the hands of other agencies. The purpose is to provide that these other agencies shall provide the same kind of protection that is provided in the military departments.
"Another purpose of the order--and it is a most important purpose--is to provide that information shall not be classified and withheld from the public on the ground that it affects the national security, unless it is in fact actually necessary to protect such information in the interest of national security.
"In other words, one of the purposes of this Executive order is to correct abuses which may have grown up by use of overclassification of information in the name of national security.
"I think this Executive order represents a reasonable approach to a very difficult problem. I think it will work in the public interest, and I expect to watch it closely, to see that it is not used as an excuse for withholding information to which the public is entitled.
"It may well be that experience under the order will indicate that it should be changed. In that case, I will be glad to change it-and I will be glad to give consideration to reasonable suggestions for changes that are advanced in good faith.
"I would like to suggest to those who are seriously and honestly concerned about this matter, that they consider it objectively and with the interests of the United States uppermost in their minds. I would like to suggest that they consider how we can best accomplish objectives which all of us should be able to agree upon. I do not believe that the best solution can be reached by adopting an approach based on the theory that everyone has a right to know our military secrets and related information affecting the national security." 1
1See Items 233, 234, 248, 302.
Now, I am going to hand you this in mimeographed form, and I hope every one of you will take a good look at it, and that you will give it to your editors and your publishers. And remember that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed by newspapers and slick magazines, and that is what I am trying to stop.
Q. Mr. President, can you give us some examples of what caused this order?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes. The most outstanding example was the publication in Fortune magazine of all the locations and the maps of our atomic energy plants. And then, in this very town--in every town in the country--were published air maps of Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and other of our great cities, with arrows pointing to the key points in those towns.
Q. I think that information was given out by the departments--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't care who gave it out. The publishers had no business to use it, if they had the welfare of the United States at heart.
Q. I don't know if the military or atomic energy--
THE PRESIDENT. I don't care who gave it out. The publisher should be just as patriotic as I am, and I wouldn't give it out.
Q. The story was over the wire--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't care about that--
Q. --attributed to a military agency--
THE PRESIDENT. Yes, and if the military agency gives you that, and an atomic bomb falls on you on account of that, at the right place, who is to blame?
Q. Well, my experience has been that the editors did not make up these maps--
THE PRESIDENT. They did, in Fortune magazine.
Q. I mean, the civil defense map--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, they were air pictures of the great cities. And it's terrible. I wish I had them of Russia and their manufacturing plants. I could use them.
Q. Mr. President, when was that Yale survey made, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. Oh, just a short time ago--just a short time ago.
Q. May I ask, Mr. President, right along the line of your effort to safeguard military and security information, what safeguards are there that the security officer will not be overzealous? As I recall, the first action taken under your Executive order was the statement by the security officer of the OPS, who said that security information is anything which is embarrassing to OPS?
THE PRESIDENT. And he had the carpet pulled out from under him, if you remember!
Q. You are the one man to watch everything, except no one human being can watch everything.
THE PRESIDENT. No--that is correct--that is correct. And I hate censorship just as badly as you do, and I will protect you against that as far as I can. But the safety and welfare of the United States of America comes first with me.
Q. As a corollary question, there was a suggestion on Capitol Hill, I believe by Senator Benton--although I am not sure--that each department which has a security officer also have a man who fights for release of information?
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. What is it, May? 2
2 Mrs. May Craig of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald.
Q. Mr. President, have you weighed the importance of the free press in relation to military security--
THE PRESIDENT. Yes--
Q.--as both important to this country?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes, yes. A free press is just as important as the Bill of Rights, and that is what is contained in the Bill of Rights.
Q. Yes sir. But do you not think you are giving dangerous power to civilian agencies to say what shall be given to the people?
THE PRESIDENT. I am not so sure. We will have to wait and find out. If that is the case, why we will change it, as I said right here--[indicating the statement].
Q. Do you not think that censorship is always abused to a degree?
THE PRESIDENT. I don't know. I have had no experience.
Q. I have, sir, and I find that it always is, even by the military.
THE PRESIDENT. Well, where is Elmer Davis? 3 He can tell us about that.
3Elmer Davis of the American Broadcasting Company, former Director of the Office of War Information.
Mr. Davis: Is there any program giving training in uniform standards for the security officers?
THE PRESIDENT. I hope there will--I hope there will be.
Joseph H. Short (Secretary to the President): Mr. President, that was provided, sir. There is training in uniform standards by the ICIS, and ICIS is going to review all of these classifications.
Q. Didn't hear what Joe said, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT. He said that there was provided in the order a training program for these men, and for uniform standards, and that that training would be carefully supervised.
Q. Did I understand you to say, sir, that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes.
Q. Secret?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes. Ninety-five percent of all our information has been revealed in the press in one way or another.
Q. Mr. President, I think what's in Macon's 4 mind, you said, we got it: "Remember that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed by newspapers and slick magazines, and that is what I am trying to stop." Is that correct-is that correct, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. That's right. That's correct. That's the answer.
4Macon Reed, Jr., of the Transradio Press Service.
Q. Mr. President, on this question of the maps, I wonder if we could recapitulate that just a little? Do we understand correctly that in event that a newspaper or magazine gets some information from, say, the Defense Department, do you think, sir, that the primary responsibility on whether that is published is on the publisher and not on the originating agency ?
THE PRESIDENT. There is no question about that, because they are very careful not to publish a lot of things that I say. [Laughter]
Q. Mr. President, just a technical question. What maps are we having reference to here?
THE PRESIDENT. Air maps of the cities of the United States.
Q. Are you referring to any one in particular, or just some that have been published ?
THE PRESIDENT. If you will look back through the magazines, you will find--or the daily papers--the News here in Washington published an air map of the city of Washington and pointed out the key places in it.
Q. Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT. That is what I am worried about now. I am not trying to suppress information. I am trying to prevent us from being wiped out.
Q. Mr. President, to get the record clear, those maps indicating the vital points in cities, weren't t
THE PRESIDENT. Please sit down.
I haven't been late for a long time, but I thought I would keep you waiting a little while.
[1.] I know what you are interested in. You are interested in censorship. And I don't believe in it. So just to keep you busy, I am going to read you a statement.
Q. Is that prepared for us?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes.
[Reading, not literally] "There has been considerable misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Executive order issued on September 24, 1951, relating to the handling of information which has been classified, in order to protect the national security."
And right here I want to stop and tell you that Central Intelligence had Yale University make a survey, and that survey found--and they had no connection with the Government-that 95 percent of all our information was public property.
"This Executive order represented an honest effort to find the best approach to a problem that is important to the survival of the United States of America. I issued the order with great reluctance, and only when I was convinced, after lengthy consideration, that it was necessary to protect the United States against its potential enemies. I think my record in defending civil liberties in this country demonstrates that I have no desire to suppress freedom of speech, or freedom of the press.
"I would like for the public to understand what this order undertakes to do, and why it was necessary to issue it.
"In its simplest terms, the problem is what we should do to keep military and related secrets from falling into the hands of the enemies of the United States. I do not believe that anyone could seriously contend that military secrets should be published in the newspapers, or that anyone has a right or a duty to see that military secrets are published. I believe that everyone, including Members of Congress and newspaper editors, should think twice before advocating a theory that would lead to that result.
"Whether it be treason or not, it does the United States just as much harm for military secrets to be made known to potential enemies through open publication, as it does for military secrets to be given to an enemy through the clandestine operations of spies." There isn't any difference at all.
"On the other hand, I do not believe that protection of military secrets should be made a cloak or a cover for withholding from the people information about their Government which should be made known to them. I believe that everyone, including Government officials, should try to prevent this from happening.
"It is easy to agree on these two objectives, but it was difficult to establish the means for accomplishing both of them.
"In those agencies of the Government primarily concerned with national security matters, such as the Department of State and the Department of Defense, we have had for a number of years a system of classifying information to prevent its disclosure to unauthorized persons when it would be dangerous to the national security. This system has worked reasonably well, although it has not in all instances prevented the publication of information which aided our enemies against the United States, and in other cases it has been used to classify information which actually has no particular relationship to national security."
Those are the two things that we are faced with, how to prevent our military secrets from becoming the possessions of our enemies, and how to be sure that, in doing that, we don't cover up information that ought to be made public.
[Continuing reading] "In the present defense mobilization period, it has become necessary in an increasing number of cases to make military secrets available to executive agencies other than the military departments, in order that these other agencies might effectively perform their functions that are necessary in supporting the defense effort. It is also necessary for some of these civilian agencies--such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for example--to originate and protect some information vital to our defense.
"It should be readily apparent that military secrets in the hands of these other agencies should be protected just as much as when they are in the hands of the military departments. It would also seem to be sensible to provide that different agencies take the same kind of precautions to protect this information. It would not make any sense to have a paper containing military secrets carefully locked up in a safe in the Pentagon, with a copy of the same paper left lying around on the desk of a lawyer in the Justice Department.
"Now, the purpose of this Executive order is to provide a commonsense answer to these problems. It is to provide that information affecting the national security shall continue to be protected when it gets out of the hands of the military departments and into the hands of other agencies. The purpose is to provide that these other agencies shall provide the same kind of protection that is provided in the military departments.
"Another purpose of the order--and it is a most important purpose--is to provide that information shall not be classified and withheld from the public on the ground that it affects the national security, unless it is in fact actually necessary to protect such information in the interest of national security.
"In other words, one of the purposes of this Executive order is to correct abuses which may have grown up by use of overclassification of information in the name of national security.
"I think this Executive order represents a reasonable approach to a very difficult problem. I think it will work in the public interest, and I expect to watch it closely, to see that it is not used as an excuse for withholding information to which the public is entitled.
"It may well be that experience under the order will indicate that it should be changed. In that case, I will be glad to change it-and I will be glad to give consideration to reasonable suggestions for changes that are advanced in good faith.
"I would like to suggest to those who are seriously and honestly concerned about this matter, that they consider it objectively and with the interests of the United States uppermost in their minds. I would like to suggest that they consider how we can best accomplish objectives which all of us should be able to agree upon. I do not believe that the best solution can be reached by adopting an approach based on the theory that everyone has a right to know our military secrets and related information affecting the national security." 1
1See Items 233, 234, 248, 302.
Now, I am going to hand you this in mimeographed form, and I hope every one of you will take a good look at it, and that you will give it to your editors and your publishers. And remember that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed by newspapers and slick magazines, and that is what I am trying to stop.
Q. Mr. President, can you give us some examples of what caused this order?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes. The most outstanding example was the publication in Fortune magazine of all the locations and the maps of our atomic energy plants. And then, in this very town--in every town in the country--were published air maps of Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and other of our great cities, with arrows pointing to the key points in those towns.
Q. I think that information was given out by the departments--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't care who gave it out. The publishers had no business to use it, if they had the welfare of the United States at heart.
Q. I don't know if the military or atomic energy--
THE PRESIDENT. I don't care who gave it out. The publisher should be just as patriotic as I am, and I wouldn't give it out.
Q. The story was over the wire--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't care about that--
Q. --attributed to a military agency--
THE PRESIDENT. Yes, and if the military agency gives you that, and an atomic bomb falls on you on account of that, at the right place, who is to blame?
Q. Well, my experience has been that the editors did not make up these maps--
THE PRESIDENT. They did, in Fortune magazine.
Q. I mean, the civil defense map--
THE PRESIDENT. Well, they were air pictures of the great cities. And it's terrible. I wish I had them of Russia and their manufacturing plants. I could use them.
Q. Mr. President, when was that Yale survey made, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. Oh, just a short time ago--just a short time ago.
Q. May I ask, Mr. President, right along the line of your effort to safeguard military and security information, what safeguards are there that the security officer will not be overzealous? As I recall, the first action taken under your Executive order was the statement by the security officer of the OPS, who said that security information is anything which is embarrassing to OPS?
THE PRESIDENT. And he had the carpet pulled out from under him, if you remember!
Q. You are the one man to watch everything, except no one human being can watch everything.
THE PRESIDENT. No--that is correct--that is correct. And I hate censorship just as badly as you do, and I will protect you against that as far as I can. But the safety and welfare of the United States of America comes first with me.
Q. As a corollary question, there was a suggestion on Capitol Hill, I believe by Senator Benton--although I am not sure--that each department which has a security officer also have a man who fights for release of information?
THE PRESIDENT. Well, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. What is it, May? 2
2 Mrs. May Craig of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald.
Q. Mr. President, have you weighed the importance of the free press in relation to military security--
THE PRESIDENT. Yes--
Q.--as both important to this country?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes, yes. A free press is just as important as the Bill of Rights, and that is what is contained in the Bill of Rights.
Q. Yes sir. But do you not think you are giving dangerous power to civilian agencies to say what shall be given to the people?
THE PRESIDENT. I am not so sure. We will have to wait and find out. If that is the case, why we will change it, as I said right here--[indicating the statement].
Q. Do you not think that censorship is always abused to a degree?
THE PRESIDENT. I don't know. I have had no experience.
Q. I have, sir, and I find that it always is, even by the military.
THE PRESIDENT. Well, where is Elmer Davis? 3 He can tell us about that.
3Elmer Davis of the American Broadcasting Company, former Director of the Office of War Information.
Mr. Davis: Is there any program giving training in uniform standards for the security officers?
THE PRESIDENT. I hope there will--I hope there will be.
Joseph H. Short (Secretary to the President): Mr. President, that was provided, sir. There is training in uniform standards by the ICIS, and ICIS is going to review all of these classifications.
Q. Didn't hear what Joe said, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT. He said that there was provided in the order a training program for these men, and for uniform standards, and that that training would be carefully supervised.
Q. Did I understand you to say, sir, that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes.
Q. Secret?
THE PRESIDENT. Yes. Ninety-five percent of all our information has been revealed in the press in one way or another.
Q. Mr. President, I think what's in Macon's 4 mind, you said, we got it: "Remember that 95 percent of our secret information has been revealed by newspapers and slick magazines, and that is what I am trying to stop." Is that correct-is that correct, sir?
THE PRESIDENT. That's right. That's correct. That's the answer.
4Macon Reed, Jr., of the Transradio Press Service.
Q. Mr. President, on this question of the maps, I wonder if we could recapitulate that just a little? Do we understand correctly that in event that a newspaper or magazine gets some information from, say, the Defense Department, do you think, sir, that the primary responsibility on whether that is published is on the publisher and not on the originating agency ?
THE PRESIDENT. There is no question about that, because they are very careful not to publish a lot of things that I say. [Laughter]
Q. Mr. President, just a technical question. What maps are we having reference to here?
THE PRESIDENT. Air maps of the cities of the United States.
Q. Are you referring to any one in particular, or just some that have been published ?
THE PRESIDENT. If you will look back through the magazines, you will find--or the daily papers--the News here in Washington published an air map of the city of Washington and pointed out the key places in it.
Q. Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT. That is what I am worried about now. I am not trying to suppress information. I am trying to prevent us from being wiped out.
Q. Mr. President, to get the record clear, those maps indicating the vital points in cities, weren't t