760–10

Conversation No. 760-10
 23

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)


Date: August 3, 1972
Time: 10:42 am - 11:10 am
Location: Oval Office

The President met with John S.D. Eisenhower and David R. Young, Jr. Members of the press
and the White House photographer were present at the beginning of this meeting.

Greetings
-Eisenhower’s birthday

Photographers

Eisenhower’s work
-Pentagon Papers
-Bay of Pigs
-Ngo Dinh Diem

[Photograph session]
-Eisenhower’s birthday

Interagency Classification Review Committee
-Announcement
-Report
-Reduction in classified material
-Top Secret level
-Secret level
-Confidential level
-Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]
-Top Secret material
-Number of officials who can classify at this level
-Department of Justice [DOJ]
-Example of official in St. Louis
-Access to Top Secret material
-State Department
-Defense Department
-Need to limit access
-Previous attempt to reduce access
-New classifications
 24

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Eyes Only
-Distribution rather than classification
-Codeword material
-CIA
-Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]
-Example of U2 program


*****************************************************************

BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1
[National security]
[Duration: 5s ]

INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


-Top Secret
-World War II
-British influence
-Number of classified documents
-Ability to classify at Top Secret level
-Number of officials
-National Archives
-Declassification efforts
-Downgrading of documents
-Executive Order 11652
-Identities of classifiers
-Verification of classification authority
-Staff of Interagency Classification Review Committee
-Young
-Assistant
-Secretary
-Need for decentralization
 25

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Reactions by agencies
-The Administration’s efforts
-Daniel Ellsberg
-The Administration’s goals
-Need for security
-Jack N. Anderson
-New York Times
-Possible penalties for security violations
-Reduction of classified material and increased
declassification
-Public position of the Administration
-Public right to know
-Need for increased security
-Example of Henry A. Kissinger’s trips to Paris
-The Administration’s secrecy
-State Department
-Defense Department
-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
-Sanitized memoranda of conversations
-Government officials’ tendency to spread information
-New York Times
-Leaks
-Example of message from Arthur K. Watson to the White House
-France
-Algeria
-Georges J.R. Pompidou
-Public goal of the Administration
-Reduction in classification
-Public right to know
-Private goals of the Administration
-Need for secrecy
-Need for effective punishment for security violations
-Richard G. Kleindienst
-Leaks
-[Dwight D. Eisenhower]
-Joseph W. Alsop
-CIA
-Robert Amory, Jr.
-Proposed budget for the Defense Department
 26

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS]
-Neil H. McElroy
-Previous meeting in the Executive Office Building [EOB]
-William H. Rehnquist
-Goals
-Access to records
-Security
-CIA
-Leaks
-Ellsberg
-India-Pakistan conflict
-Kissinger’s office
-Pulitzer Prize
-New York Times
-Anderson
-John Kenneth Galbraith’s previous testimony
-Previous leaks
-Intellectuals
-Ivy League schools
-Ellsberg
-Effect on government
-International reaction
-Great Britain
-Need for security
-Communists nations
-People's Republic of China [PRC]
-Soviet Union
-Poland
-North Vietnam
-The President’s meetings with PRC and Soviet leaders
-Chou En-lai
-Leonid I. Brezhnev
-Use of dictation equipment compared to
secretaries
-Winston S. Churchill
-Brezhnev’s comment
-Effect of security on negotiations
-Kleindienst
-Reduction of classification
 27

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)

-Reliable system of classification
-Penalties for security violations
-Reduction of classification
-Resultant reinforcement of security laws
-Overclassification
-Communications with foreign governments
-Penalties for unauthorized release of information
-Espionage laws
-Need for review
-Loopholes
-Communication with a journalist
-Compared with communication with a foreign
agent
-The President’s instructions
-Forthcoming review by Young
-Possible new legislation
-British study of Official Secrets Act
-Oliver Shewell Franks
-Previous meeting with John D. Ehrlichman and Young
-Press
-Anderson
-Interagency Classification Review Committee
-The President’s view

Gift presentations
-Money clip
-Presidential seal
-Pin
-Barbara J. (Thompson) Eisenhower
-Daughters
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower
-Cufflinks

H.R. (“Bob”) Haldeman’s office

Interagency Classification Review Committee
-Public relations

John Eisenhower and Young left at 11:10 am.
 28

NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. Nov-03)