Giving Away the People’s Property : The federal archivist’s action on White House tapes brings demands for an investigation

Federal law says it is a felony for a U.S. government official to make decisions on matters relating to “any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning prospective employment.” On that basis there seems to be reason to question whether Don W. Wilson, the federal archivist, violated the law by signing an agreement Jan. 19 giving President George Bush exclusive control over thousands of disputed computer tapes from the National Security Council and other White House offices. At the time Wilson may have been negotiating for--or even assured of getting--the job of running Bush’s presidential library in Texas.

Three Democratic senators--John Glenn (Ohio), David Pryor (Ark.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.)--find this suspicion strong enough that they want the Justice Department to investigate whether Wilson broke the law.

The White House had indicated it wanted to destroy the computer files in question before Bush left office. It was prevented from doing so when private researchers obtained court orders for their preservation. The tapes cover both the Ronald Reagan and Bush administrations, and contain millions of messages and documents dealing with foreign and domestic policy. Much of the material is likely to remain classified for years. Much of it probably bears directly on how decisions are made as issues work their way through the White House to the President’s desk. The tapes are an invaluable historical resource for future study.

The tapes are not Bush’s personal property, to preserve or destroy as he sees fit. As the Presidential Records Act makes clear, it is the government and not a former President that “shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession and control of presidential documents.”

Federal records are preserved in the National Archives in Washington and at the nine existing presidential libraries that the Archives manage. The George Bush Center, at Texas A&M; University, will be the 10th. Wilson, a Reagan appointee whose resignation as archivist takes effect March 31, will become the center’s executive director. He was hired by William H. Mobley, the university’s president, and by the head of the foundation that is raising money for the center, George W. Bush, the former President’s son.

Wilson denies that any conflict of interest occurred. Maybe. But on the surface it appears that two laws have been violated. A full and prompt investigation clearly is in order.