SESSION 87 FREMONT-SMITH: So you've become irresponsible in terms of the election, hopefully in order to be responsible later, and the thing goes on ina vicious circle. ROOT: I think the professionals have not demonstrated any greater aptitude than the amateurs. It was President Eisenhower whosaid, “We must give an accounting of this. We must let the nations know, He was sensitive about the NATO reaction and the public reaction, He wanted as much information released as possibleu-—to help them understand. But State Department rules are rigid. Certain tormulas determine our dealings and interchanges with our own people and with other countries. Those are the things that are sterile and constricting. Ithink if more responsibility were left to the amateur who has the confidence of the people inasmuch as they put him up there, and to the man in the affected area who knows tne customs and the teniper of the people concerned, there would be less suspicion and hostility in times of crisis. The sad par. is that though the crisis passes, the feelings tend to persist. WARREN: I would like your consultation and thet of your confrere on your right, because this is what we're really talking about in this whole meeting. So I don't «xpect to get an immediate answer on this, but isn't this an opportunity? ROOT: I know that I can get more information abroad, as Cangressman Morse pointed out in the security hei.rings, about situations abroad, and about situations at home than I can get at home. I think that we have one of the most hysterical, panic- ridden attitudes toward releasing information of any free country. FREMONT-SMITH: fication, On account of security, on account of classi- ROOT: This delusion of grandeur impedes scientific progress and destroys public confidence. .. DUNHAM: ROOT: I would like to challenge this. ... because it's really going to destroy us. DUNHAM: You mentioned the ineptitude of Wind Scale, I've seen what the British atomic authority releases, and some of the tnings they don't release in the way of information. And if you think we are...