National Security Benchmark: Truman,Executive Order 10290,and the Press

Abstract

This study examines President Harry Truman's executive order that extended a classification system to cover civilian agencies, along with press resistance to that move. In Truman's view, classification was needed to protect national security in the face of growing Communism. But the press argued the order would lead to suppression of legitimate news and that there was no avenue of appeal from classification decisions. This research finds that, in 1987 alone, nearly seven thousand classifiers made more than two million classification decisions, many against allowing openness. Concerns raised during the Truman administration have proven justified.