wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) (12/15/89)
From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) > I have never heard of any validation of the material in his books. I > was told by an intel officer friend that his book had been submitted > for review. The Navy told him they would have to either approve or > disapprove the entire book. After all telling him which parts to > remove would tell him what parts were *true* and which parts were > speculation not near the mark. The impression I got was that there > were some sensitive details contained in the book, but most of it > was on the speculative side A few points to clarify: Tom Clancy has *never* had a security clearance. One of the aspects of having clearances is the requirement to have material cleared before publication. However, since Clancy has never had a clearance, this requirement doesn't apply to him. The Navy doesn't have any authority over him nor his publisher. HOWEVER, his original publisher was the US Naval Institute... a civilian company, but of course, with firm ties to the Navy. Most of the management is retired Navy, and HAVE signed non-disclosure agreements. The USNI went into a dither as to whether to try to "censor" _Red October_. However, Clancy now writes for a different publisher, and can say whatever he wants. If some CIA source comes up and whispers in his ear, Clancy can use it. Since he's never signed an agreement to protect classified information, he cannot legally be prevented from publishing it. The US does not have an Official Secrets Act. One interesting element about the USNI's investigation as to possible security compromises was mentioned in a Newsweek article a couple of years ago. They submitted a draft of _Red October_ to a retired sub captain for an accuracy/security review. Page upon page came back with bold diagonal red slashes and the letters "BS". However, the captain, again, WAS covered by non-disclosure agreements and couldn't tell them exactly what was wrong. So file that with your "how accurate is Tom Clancy" stories.... Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja)