TESTIMONY OF ROBERT LEWIS NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS SIGMA DELTA CHI BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL SERVICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 22, 2008
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 29, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi
T E S T I M O LI Y O F
ROBERT LEWIS, NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
on behalf of the
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS, Sigma Delta Chi
before the
Subcommittee on CIVIL SERVICE
COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
concerning
H.R. 4681, "The Federal Polygraph Limitation and
Anti-Censorship Act of 1984"
February 29, 1934
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
Thank you, Madame Chairman. My name is Bob Lewis.
I am a reporter here in Washington for the Newhouse News
Service and have been a working journalist for the past
28 years. In addition to my professional interest in
this subject, I appear today as National Secretary of the
Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi.
Founded in 1909, the Society is the oldest and largest
organization of journalists in the United States, with
over 24,000 members in all branches of the news media --
print and broadcasting. Accompanying me is Bruce W. Sanford
of Baker & Hostetler in Washington, D.C., the Society's First
Amendment Counsel.
The Society comes before the Committee today to pro-
vide the perspective of working reporters toward President
Reagan's National Security Decision Directive 84 and H.R.
4681, Representative Jack Brooks' effective remedy for the
Administration's ill-conceived proposal.
At the outset, let me say that the Society wholehearted-
ly supports proceeding with this hearing, and passing H.R.
4681, in the wake of the Administration's decision to "suspend"
implementation of the most onerous portions of NSDD 84. The
government and the people are certainly better served by put-
ting off any efforts to force some 127,000 government workers
with high security clearances to sign pledges requiring life-
time government prepublication review of all writings and
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
speeches and to allow the increased use of polygraph tests
to ferret out "leakers." However, it is clear from news
reports (which, incidentally, contained unattributed and
apparently "leaked" information from a "White House offi-
cial") that the suspension in implementation is not based
on a change of policy by the Administration. Rather, it
appears to be nothing more than a strategic retreat based
on political nose-counting. The "suspension" came just
before the start of the confirmation hearings of Edwin
Meese, reportedly the architect of the NSDD 84, who Presi-
dent Reagan has nominated for Attorney General. The news
reports make clear that implementation of NSDD 84 is only
suspended; legislation such as H.R. 4681 is still necessary
to insure that the effects of NSDD 84, or any future Execu-
tive Order, are never visited upon this democracy.
We feel that, at the very least, Congress should be
consulted before an Administration implements such far-
reaching policies on federal workers as those contained in
NSDD 84, even under the rationale of stopping unauthorized
leaks.
The Society believes NSDD 84 is a classic case of
overkill in attempting to plug the mythical malady of govern-
ment leaks. This Directive is, as Bob Schieffer of CBS News,
a deputy national chairman of the Society's Freedom of Infor-
mation Committee, told Representative Brooks' hearing last
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
October, "as unneeded as it is unprecedented and ill-con-
ceived." Madame Chairman, we applaud both your committee
and Mr. Brooks for your perserverance in remedying the harm
that would result from implementation of NSDD 84. We
wholeheartedly concur in the finding of Mr. Brooks' Com-
mittee on Government Operations that NSDD 84's prepublica-
tion review requirement is an unconstitutional prior restraint
and that the use of polygraph tests would lead to the wide-
spread mislabeling of many government employees as either
honest or dishonest.
The White House has sent signals since its announcement
of the suspension of NSDD 84 that it wants a bi-partisan solu-
tion to combat unauthorized leaks. But such compromise is.
not the answer. The Society suggests that rather than trying
to implement constitutionally suspect prepublication review
requirements, the government enforce existing criminal statutes
or propose tougher ones, if needed. The government, rather
than trying to institute a program of prior restraints, should
collect civil damages where it can show that an official im-
paired national security by disclosing classified information.
If President Reagan is sincere about compromise, he should
drop completely any notions of imposing prepublication review
requirements or the widespread use of polygraphs.
The specific provisions of NSDD 84 have been discussed
thoroughly before this Committee and others in both the House
and Senate. The Society believes the Reagan Administration
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
has prescribed an antidote for what it sees as an epidemic
of leaked government information that weakens the strength
of the country. There certainly are national security
secrets that should not be released to the public. But
the Reagan Administration's proposed cure is far worse
than the disease. The Administration seeks to innoculate
all government employees with pre-publication review re-
quirements, lifetime screening of all written and oral
statements and the widespread use of polygraphs. Such a
potent innoculation might cure leaks, but it would also
emaciate and suffocate the sustaining ingredients of our
system of government -- a citizenry informed about the
workings of their government. The Reagan Administration's
cure for leaks is to stuff the citizens into one big isola-
tion chamber where only the government can turn the spigot
controlling the quantity of government information to the
public. This Committee and this Congress must not allow
any administration to control the flow of the fresh air of
information in a democracy.
As a working reporter here in Washington, I can tell
you that NSDD 84, if implemented, would impose an unprece-
dented system of peacetime censorship that would dry up
the substantive information upon which news reports are now
based. The Directive would elevate the highly partisan
Administration spokesman to the only show in town. Reporters
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
in Washington, in order to inform their readers fully,
must be able to ask government officials what they are
doing, what others are doing, and how they assess the
significance of certain events. Reporters do not need
to make public legitimate national security secrets.
But they do need to tell the American people the current
theories and thoughts underlying our national policies
and they do need to contact those in positions of authority
who can put in perspective an ever-changing world. Any
measure such as NSDD 84 dilutes that vital information.
It is also quite clear that the effect of NSDD 84 would
not be stopping leaks of national security information,
but rather stifling unfavorable comments about the admin-
istration in power or hiding its embarrassments.
In practical terms, implementation of NSDD 84 would
mean that whenever journalists wished to include commentary
by a former high government official in news broadcasts or
articles, that commentary would first have to be cleared by
the government. The nebulous net of the Directive would
compel virtually all government officials to say nothing
for fear of possibly offending some bureaucratic censor.
The Directive's prohibition against assisting or con-
ferring with any person who has or may have SCI or classified
information, including "a ghost writer, spouse or friend,
or editor," would also impoverish news reporting from Wash-
ington. That language in the Directive would preclude a
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
journalist with information he suspects may be classified
from checking it on background for accuracy or explanation
with a knowledgeable official or former official. As a
reporter, I can tell you that the ability to check infor-
mation with highly knowledgeable sources is the single
greatest aid in melding different versions of events and
snippets of information into a coherent explanation of
world affairs.
In summation, Madame Chairman, people will always
leak information for their own purposes, whether lofty as
in the case of whistleblowers or petty as in the case of
bitter bureaucrats. All it takes to leak is a copying
machine and postage stamps. No Directive can stop that. But
NSDD 84 extracts a stifling price from our freedom in return
for what it would accomplish. It would not stop leaks, but
it would control information about the government. This will
yield us nothing but skepticism and distrust, and a result-
ing loss in the credibility of the government.
The cure to this ill-conceived Directive and the mind-
set that produced it in this Administration, and could pro-
duce it in future administrations, is Representative Brooks'
H.R. 4681. H.R. 4681 would prohibit prepublication review
requirements and would allow polygraph tests only in actual
investigations of illegal activities and would require use
of a polygraph test only when the subject volunteered.
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
The Society supports passage of H.R. 4681. We
urge this Committee and this Congress to pass this bill.
Thank you, Madame Chairman. I would be happy to answer
any questions.
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
 Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6
0The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi
FOR RELEASE:
9:30 a.m.
Wednesday, February 29, 1984
The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta
Chi urged Congress Wednesday to pass legislation prohibit-
ing subjecting federal employees to lifetime prepublication
review and polygraph tests, as proposed earlier this year
by the Reagan Administration. The Society termed the
Administration proposals "a classic case of overkill in
attempting to plug the mythical malady of government leaks."
Robert Lewis, Secretary of the Society and a Washington
correspondent for Newhouse News Service, testified that such
legislation remained necessary despite the Reagan Administra-
tion's announced intention to "suspend" implementation of
National Security Decision Directive 84 (NSDD 84), which
contained the proposals.
Lewis noted at a hearing chaired by Rep. Patricia
Schroeder (D-Colo.) that the confirmation hearings for At-
torney General-designate Edwin Meese, reportedly the archi-
tect of the controversial NSDD 84, also began Wednesday.
Lewis told the Subcommittee on Civil Service of the House
Committee on Post Office and Civil Service that "the sus-
pension in implementation is not based on a change of policy
by the Administration. Rather, it appears to be nothing more
than a strategic retreat based on political nose-counting."
Lewis gave the Society's strong endorsement to H.R. 4681,
a bill proposed by Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.) that would pro-
hibit any Administration from imposing lifetime government
prepublication review of the writings and speeches of some
127,500 government employees with high security clearances
and from forcing government employees to submit to polygraph
examinations.
Describing the effects of NSDD 84's provisions, Lewis
said: "The Society believes the Reagan Administration has
prescribed an antidote for what it sees as an epidemic of
leaked government information that weakens the strength of
the country. The Reagan Administration's proposed cure is
far worse than the disease."
Attached is a copy of Lewis' statement. For further
information contact Lewis at 202-383-7826 or First Amendment
Counsel Bruce W. Sanford at 202-861-1626.
Approved For Release 2008/08/22 : CIA-RDP86B00338R000300380004-6