REAGAN'S MANIA FOR SECRECY: GOVERNMENT DECISIONS WITHOUT DEMOCRACY

	  On December 3, 1986, President Ronald	Reagan signed Public Law
     99-494 proclaiming	1987 "The Year of the Reader." The blatant
     hypocrisy of that act was clear throughout	1987 as	the Reagan
     administration outdid itself in its efforts to control, interpret,
     manipulate, disinform, and	censor all forms of information.
	  Typical of the Reagan	administration's efforts to control its own
     destiny and the nation's history was the Justice Department memorandum
     filed in a	lawsuit	that could enable Reagan to control the	history	of
     his involvement in	the Iran/contra	scandal. The administration is
     seeking to	overturn a 1986	Federal	court ruling which limited Nixon's
     right to block the	release	of his White House papers. The Justice
     Department	memorandum would allow Nixon to	withdraw any documentation
     he	thought	should be supressed. In	effect,	Nixon would be in control
     of	U.S. history between 1968 and 1974. If Nixon wins, it will pave	the
     way for Reagan to control U.S. history from l980 to 1988.
	  While	alarming, this is merely the tip of the	iceberg	when it
     comes to Reagan's mania for secrecy. Following are just three groups
     that tried	to warn	us about what was happening; the nation's leading
     press didn't think their stories were that important.
	  PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY -- A report titled "Government
     Secrecy: Decisions	Without	Democracy," published in December 1987,
     provides more than	100 pages of well-documented charges about the
     growing secrecy system and	its dangers to American	democracy. The
     report "tells the story of	the institutionalization of secrecy
     throughout	the federal government ... the story of	unprecedented
     controls on information, not only on defense and foreign policy issues
     where legitimate secrets do need to be protected but on a host of
     topics vital to our daily lives, from toxic wastes	to occupational
     hazards, from new technology to the health	of our children."
	  THE REPORTERS	COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS -- In March,
     1987, the Reporters Committee issued a "FYI Media Alert" about how	the
     Reagan administration and its supporters restrict public and media
     access to government information and intrude on editorial freedom.
     The 50-page report, retroactive to	March 1981, lists 135 specific
     actions, including	threatened prosecution of the press for	publishing
     classified	information; expulsion of foreign journalists; proposed
     restrictive amendments to the Freedom of Information Act; proposed and
     actual use	of lie detectors, and many other cases.
	  THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION -- The ALA released its 1987
     updated "Less Access to Less Information By and About the U.S.
     Government: IX," covering 1987. The chronology, which was started in
     1981, provides a damning indictment of Reagan administration efforts
     to	"restrict and privatize	government information"	which has led to
     significantly limited access to public documents and statistics. The
     new 1987 report adds 30 pages and 78 specific items to the	case for
     Reagan's mania for secrecy.

	  SOURCES: THE NATION, 5/23/87,	"History Deleted," pp 669-670;
     GOVERNMENT	DECISIONS WITHOUT DEMOCRACY, December 1987, by People For
     The American Way, pp 1-104+; FYI MEDIA ALERT 1987, March 1987, "The
     Reagan Administration & The News Media," by The Reporters Committee
     for Freedom of the	Press, pp 1-50; THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION,
     Washington	Office,	"Less Access to	Less Information By and	About the
     U.S. Government: IX," December 1987, by Anne A. Heanue.