WHETE HOUSE EMERGENCY INFORMATION PROGRAM Your assignment to me was to ignore policy questions and to develop an immediate stop-gap staff and procedures which could be put into effect quickly in an emergency and to arrange an exercise to test both. An outline of such staff and tentative procedures is attached, and I'm working out « plen for the exercise. How this exercise might work and the impression we make on the participating reporters, however, depend greatly on several questions of policy, I do not mean to exceed my assignment, but I think I should at least call to your attention the policy problems that have become apparent to me in the past week. Several previous efforts to work out such @ program have foundered because of lack of policy guidance and I think answers -~ if only provisional -- to these questions must be provided before the exercise, especially in view of the current flap about “managing the news." Let me frame the questions in connection with what I think are some basic assumptions: 1, ASSUMPTION: To insure the secrecy of information which would assist the enemy, the Government will want to have contrel over sli information going out of the classified location and the executive agencies’ relocation sites. This would be achieved by the centrali« zation of releases. STATUS: Reporters in the site might be limited to handouts and briefings for official information, but they will have access to a number of alternate sources of information, mich of it highly sensitive, simply by being in the site -- announcements on the inter- com, closed-circuit TV from the War Room on sets which sre placed in a number of offices, and just casual dormitory or hall contacts. QUESTION: Wow is their use of such sensitive information controlled? Restct ther access DECLASSIFIED SEC. BypppNARA Date W/Lepnans ube bond 2 rotuckuayent = 41EC nou 2. ASSUMPTION: The Government is not interested in attempting to censor spot news across the country. STATUS: Nevertheless, local radio or press reports of mushroom clouds over important targets -- particularly if rounded up by national news agencies -- could help the enemy make damage assessments or be detrimental to national security in other ways. QUESTION: Should some effort be made to control such information, if only through a code to which news outlets voluntarily subscribe? (A related question is, should or would local or regional civil defense officials risk forfeiture of public confidence by denying or refusing comment on visible or obvious attack damage?) 3. ASSUMPTION: The Presidential Press Pool members would report not for their individual papers or stations but for the press corps they represent. STATUS: Previous plans for a central gathering point for the rest of the press corps have been abandoned for various reasons, such as difficulty of reporters getting to such a point, the cost of establishing one, and the uncertainty both of commnications to their papers and the very survival of their papers. The only present link for the pool is the combined AP/UPI wire at the classified si QUESTION: Who the pool reporters be writing for? Who would the still and movie ‘be shooting for? Wier ¢ darkioom is 4, ASSUMPTION: Assuming that there was no central site for the press corps, the reporters at the site could write for the combined 42 /UPT wire out of the site to New York and Atlanta (or radio wire which could be connected at Colorado Springs.) STATUS: All three of these wire service locations either are wulnerable or Likely targets. Because of its technical nature, the wire service lines would be difficult and enormously expensive to harden. In short, there is no link between the pool reporters and the press corps. OUtside of the vulnerable AP/UPI teletype, the only link between the reporters and their ow papers would be equally vulnerable ATST phone Lines. And, again, many newspapers, located in the heart of metropolitan areas, would be destroyed by an attack. Consequently, there has been an unspoken semi-assumpt ion in previous press planning that newspaper capability should be largely discounted, at least for the immediate post-attack period. QUESTION: Is this a tenable assumption? Or should an effort be made to create and harden the missing newspaper links? That is: 1. Should consideration of a hardened "newspoint” withwun 3. necessary communications for the rest of the Washi pre corps be revived? Special arrauscnuh Pr gn eepalias? 2, Should consideration be given to a hardened, non- metropolitan AP/UPT transmission center, as an alternate to New York and Atlanta? (This very likely would have to be done at Government expense.) 3. Should a newspaper group analgous to NIAC be instituted to consider such problems as hardened relocation sites for indivi- dual papers and their communications lines? 5, ASSUMPTION: It is desirable, especially for broadcast purposes, to have familiar names and faces -- rather than some anonymous Government announcer -- broadcast the news, STATUS! This aim has been achieved, but twice. OEP and FCC, working with NIAC, have on call 4 group of private industry broad- casters and technical personnel (Lew Scholienberger, Steve McCormick, etc.) for emergency use. The Presidential Press Pool, however, also ineludes brosdcasters (Sender Vanocur, Bill Lawrence, etc.) for the same purpose. QUESTION: Who will do the broadeasting? Is this not needless Fepitition and should not some combination be effected? (I would Seabees chek HAE ovakinen te peoriay technical personne) end that he networks get together and decige either that ig te ot eight for thelr White louse staffers to take the place of the NIAC broad- asters in the pool or vice versa. aad tm tho, Spee, since the aim_{s familiar personalities, consideration aight be given to using Brinkleys or Cronkhites for example, rather than the somewhat lesser~ known people now listed.) Stupptettens tues the 16 people in. che Beergeuny Petes Peck 2ive Of Hell's Half Acre, complicating the assembly and trans- portation problem, might it not make more sense to have the press corps pick representatives whose homes are closer together? Ag 2, {ill you go to one of the altemete Prestdentiat ‘sites, 30, which one’ oe __. gone re on FE aspatin oy pate el EXERCISE » ‘eae bic: Jig Ath Airmncatn np, 2 Mtuwme 2 hes aes £