The right to know: Public access to federal information in the 1980s

This article is based on a symposium held at the University of California, Berkeley, and sponsored by the Library, University of California, Berkeley; the Librarians Association of the University of California (Berkeley Division); and the School of Library and Information Studies, University of California, Berkeley. The author examines government information controls in the context of the constitutional and statutory tradition of open access to government information in the United States. He discusses the restrictive climate in which the Reagan administration views public access and warns that restrictive national security policies may actually curtail economic growth, retard defense programs, and undermine the Constitution.