Judge Bars Destruction of NSC Data
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WASHINGTON — A federal judge Thursday barred the White House in the closing hours of the Reagan Administration from destroying information in a National Security Council computer system.
The information was generated on the PROFS system, which was used by former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, fired NSC aide Oliver L. North and others until November, 1986. From it, investigators retrieved messages in reconstructing the Iran-Contra affair.
U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker issued a temporary restraining order at the request of the National Security Archive, a nonprofit group, and a division of the American Civil Liberties Union. A hearing will be held Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey.
The groups sued President Reagan, President-elect Bush and the archivist of the United States, saying in a statement they are trying to prevent the destruction of “historically significant White House computer tapes . . . during the last three years of the Reagan Administration.”
The professional office system, or PROFS, is used by NSC personnel and White House staff
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