U.S. Ordered to Save Computer Records : Law: Landmark court ruling greatly expands the types of documents the government must preserve. Suit stems back to Reagan, Bush administrations.

A federal appeals court Friday expanded the definition of records that must be preserved by the government to include millions of White House computer messages and other documents from the Ronald Reagan and George Bush presidencies.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals here represents a landmark ruling involving the maintenance of government records as more and more material is placed into computers.

Such records have already proven invaluable in the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan Administration and the prosecution of former Panamanian leader Manuel A. Noriega on drug charges.

“This means a major change in record-keeping practices for federal agencies,” said Michael E. Tankersly, the lawyer from the watchdog group Public Citizen who led the court fight. “They must catch up with the innovations that have been made in electronic records systems.”

The case stemmed from a lawsuit brought in 1989 by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental library of declassified documents. It sought to save from destruction the backup magnetic tapes and discs of computer information from the National Security Council under Reagan and Bush.

But the appeals court decision will also require the Clinton Administration to update its practices to ensure that future records of all federal agencies are kept as well.

The government had contended that paper copies of the material were adequate under the Federal Records Act. But the appeals court said the printouts were inadequate because they do not include who wrote the documents and who received them.

“Texts alone may be of quite limited utility to researchers and investigators studying the formulation and dissemination of significant policy initiatives at the highest reaches of our government,” said the judges, who upheld a lower court ruling made in January.

A spokesman for the Justice Department said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the ruling.

Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, said: “This ruling is a breakthrough for government accountability in the electronic age.”

The private archive was supported in its suit by the American Library Assn., the American Historical Assn. and several individuals.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey ruled in favor of the archive in January and threatened the Clinton White House and the National Archives, which maintains the records, with stiff fines unless they complied with his order to preserve the records.

“The crux of this lawsuit is the preservation of the history of this country beginning with the administrations of Presidents Reagan and Bush and, more specifically, the preservation of electronic records,” said Richey after one of his rulings.