JUDGE: DON'T ERASE BUSH-TERM TAPES WHITE HOUSE KEPT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070185
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
JUDGE: DON'T ERASE BUSH-TERM TAPES WHITE HOUSE KEPT
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a White House plan to destroy some computerized records is unlawful, and he ordered the National Archives to prevent the Bush administration from erasing most records contained in the White House computer system.
U.S. District Judge Charles Richey said in his 32-page opinion that he was concerned that the Bush administration, which had said it might begin destroying some unspecified records today, was about to erase records "of tremendous historical value."
Such records, he said, could show who was involved in a particular decision, what they knew and when they knew it.
Richey noted that such information was of crucial importance to the Iran-Contra and Watergate investigations of past administrations. "When left to themselves, agencies have a built-in incentive to dispose of records relating to their mistakes," Richey said.
Richey's order came in a Freedom of Information case brought by writer Scott Armstrong; the National Security Archive; and others.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB