Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Health Plan Papers Intact, Judge Is Told

The Clinton Administration denied that any of the hundreds of thousands of documents generated by the President’s health care task force have been shredded or otherwise destroyed. “To the best of our knowledge, no task force documents were destroyed” at any time, Justice Department lawyers said in a memorandum to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. The judge issued a court order last week threatening to hold White House officials in contempt if any are destroyed. The order was sought by three groups who have tried to penetrate the inner workings of the task force. They cited a newspaper story indicating that several boxes of letters to Hillary Rodham Clinton had been put through a shredder on June 11 at the New Executive Office Building near the White House.