White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan/Bush White House Tried to Destroy

This publication represents a selection of the most dramatic and revealing computer communications that flowed through the national security offices of the Reagan/Bush White House. These are the secret E-mail messages behind the most scandalous policies of recent times - the E-mail that Oliver North and John Poindexter thought they had deleted from their computers before leaving the National Security Council in disgrace.

This unique book offers a pastiche of actual, unaltered E-mail messages drawn from various members of the White House staff from the mid-1980s until late 1994. Edited by the executive director of the National Security Archive (NSA), the messages, which were officially declassified as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the NSA, are arranged by topics (e.g., "Dancing with Dictators," "Spin Doctors") and then chronologically within the category. The book marks the organization's victory in establishing the principle of public access to govermental electronic communication. However, the text itself consists mainly of raw data that is difficult for a general reader to fit into the larger political context and that gives one a sense of voyeurism, intruding into private conversations not intended for a general audience. Despite the lack of coherence, the volume does provide an inside look at how the White House staff employed this new and less guarded means of communication. While somewhat of a novelty book, it may have a lasting impact on how the White House staff members use E-mail in the future, since their messages will now be accessible to the American people.?James Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.