The Nation - News from Jan. 13, 1985

Brig. Gen. Richard F. Abel, director of public information for the Air Force, told a journalism class at the University of Georgia in Athens that a Washington Post article about the next space shuttle’s military mission contained little or no information that was not on record, according to several persons who heard him. But Abel said he had told the class only that “some” of the information in the Post story came from published sources. The Post was criticized by the Pentagon for reporting that the shuttle will launch a satellite that will “eavesdrop” on the Soviet Union.