New Hearing, New Wrinkles In Appeals on H-Bomb Case
Date: 16 September 1979
By ANTHONY LEWIS
Anthony LEWIS
Anthony Lewis comment on issues involved in Government's prior restraint case against The Progressive; notes argument posed by counsel for Government, Deputy Assistant Atty Gen Thomas S Martin, states: disputed material in article by Howard Morland is not concerned with policy or ideas, but is technical information on weaponry, which is not protected by 1st Amendment; holds possible harm is so grave that it outweighs inability to show direct causation; holds case is different from Pentagon Papers because it comes under statute explicitly allowing prior restraint of publications that disclose nuclear weapons data; Earl Munson, counsel for Progressive, argued that essence of article has already appeared elsewhere and material is in public domain; Morland por (M)
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Writer Tells of Long Concern on Nuclear Weapons
Date: 17 September 1979
By WALLACE TURNER Special to The New York Times
Wallace Special
Hansen says his research into nuclear weapons started in '71 when Atomic Energy Commission provided him with list of sources of unclassified information, interview; Justice Department officials have obtained temporary restraining order from Federal judge prohibiting Daily Californian from publishing letter; Hansen says he is in process of hiring lawyer; refuses to name aerospace company that has employed him; will not discuss his motivation for writing letter (S)
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Judge Bars Newspaper On Coast From Using Letter About H-Bomb; Judge Bars Coast Paper From Printing H-Bomb Letter
Date: 16 September 1979
Justice Department obtains Federal court order barring Daily Californian, student-run newspaper in Berkeley, from publishing letter by Charles Hansen that Government contends includes secrets about hydrogen bomb; Judge Robert H Schnacke says he signed order after department lawyers requested temporary restaining order; newspaper editor-in-chief Tom Abate says he will not comment on order until he has discussed it with lawyers; Justice Department officials say they filed suit at request of Energy Sec Charles W Duncan Jr; Milwaukee Sentinel says that Energy Department asked it to sunender its copy of letter; says it refused, but has no intention of publishing any classified information from letter; Sentinel editor Robert Wills comments; Mark Sheehan, Justice Department spokesman, says it will be up to Energy Department to decide whether to act against Sentinel (M)
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U.S. Officials Surprised
Date: 17 September 1979
Special to The New York Times
appearance of Hansen letter in Madison Press Connection comes as surprise to Federal officials who had tried to prevent its publication in other papers through legal action and oral persuasion; Energy Department official Eric J Fygi says that department has list of 7 publications that have letter and that Press Connection was not among them; says department had obtained 'reasonable assurances' from 6 of 7 that they would not publish article; 7th, Daily Californian, was served with court injunction after it refused to give department similar guarantees; 7 publications listed (S)
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Paper Challenges Government
Date: 17 September 1979
Chicago Tribune, in letter to Energy Department from Tribune attorney Don H Reuben, informs Federal Government that it will 'print appropriate and informative portion' of Hansen letter, in effect challenging Government to stop publication through legal action; Tribune spokesman says letter is in response to 1 from Energy Department to Peninsula Times-Tribune, owned by Tribune Co, which says it printed similar diagram and letter from Hansen on Aug 30; letter warns of legal problems, and about 600 unsold copies of that day's papers have been locked away; Tom Abate, editor-in-chief of Daily Californian, says paper will be represented by ACLU when Government's request for permanent injunction against publication is scheduled for hearing in San Francisco Federal District Court (S)
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Wisconsin Newspaper Publishes H-Bomb Letter Barred on Coast; Newspaper in Wisconsin Publishes Letter on H-Bomb Barred on Coast
Date: 17 September 1979
Special to The New York Times
text of Hansen letter that, according to Government, contains secret information about hydrogen bomb is published in special edition of Madison Press Connection and is to be published again in Sept 17 editions for newspaper's 11,000 paid subscribers; newspaper's editors voted to publish letter after they learned that Federal judge in San Francisco issued temporary restraining order barring Daily Californian from printing it; George Vukelich, president of Press Connection's board of directors, says letter was printed because it is 'important that all Americans see it in print'; David Wagner, editorial page editor, says no Federal authorities have contacted editions; paper's front page includes diagram that newspaper says was on last page of Hansen letter showing cross-section of hydrogen bomb with details of bomb trigger; Hansen says he collects documents about nuclear weaponry but none of sources he used for letter was classified; US Atty Frank Tuerkheimer says he has been directed by superior to send copy of newspaper to Washington but was having trouble finding copy on newsstands; copies of Hansen's letter, written to Sen Charles H Percy, were sent to several other newspapers around US; Press Connection, in editorial, refers to similar case involving The Progressive that was prohibited by court order from publishing article about hydrogen bomb earlier in year; illus of Press Connection editor Ron McCrea with editorial page editor David Wagner and general manager Verna Hill (M)
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Senator Asked to Surrender Letter
Date: 16 September 1979
Federal officials ask Sen Charles H Percy to sunender letter mailed to him by Hansen; Percy at 1st said he would keep letter, but later announced he would turn it over to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (S)
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Israel Lifts Censorship on Charge Officer Murdered Four Lebanese; Official Justification Is Disputed
Date: 17 September 1979
Military censors have allowed disclosure of allegations about murder in '78 of 4 Lebanese civilians by Israeli officer after written account of crime appeared in foreign press; details of allegation had been suppressed by Israeli's military censorship even though Uri Avneri, 1 of left-wing Sheli party's 2 members of parliament, tried to publicize them in speech to Parliament in July (S)
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