Long Fight for White House Tapes Could End in Silence, Suit Argues

White House computer tapes that President George Bush wanted his staff to erase before leaving office are in danger of rotting in the National Archives, say two groups involved in a court fight to preserve them.

The two groups filed court papers Thursday seeking to have the archives return the 5,795 computer reel tapes and 150 mainframe or personal computer hard drives to three White House agencies to be maintained or copied.

The motions were filed in U.S. District Court by the National Securities Archives, a private group that seeks to preserve declassified government documents for use by journalists and historians, and Public Citizen, a group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader.

Specifically, the motions ask Judge Charles Richey to hold the government archives, the National Security Council and White House offices of communication and administration in contempt for violating his Jan. 6 order to preserve the computerized records.

Except for erasures, the tapes and hard drives contain virtually every item of electronic mail generated by the White House and National Security Council staffs during all of the Bush Administration and the last three years of the Ronald Reagan Administration.

Richey ordered the archives and the three White House agencies to preserve the electronic communications before Bush left office Jan. 20.

Instead, according to the complaint, departing officials on Jan. 19 began a “midnight ride” transfer of all the materials to the archives to prevent them from falling into the hands of the incoming Clinton Administration.