The Press: The Times & the Secret

"Secret nuclear test detonations at more than 300 miles above the earth were conducted by the United States early last September." So began last week the year's biggest news beat: a report by New York Times Military Editor Hanson W. Baldwin on Project Argus—an attempt to gauge the behavior of high-speed electrons in the earth's magnetic field (see SCIENCE). The story was much more than a beat. Working on Argus, Reporter Baldwin months ago got into the precarious position of having to decide when and how—if at all—to use material that could critically...

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