{"conversationCode":"006-026","tapeNumber":6,"conversationNumber":26,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-006-026","startDateTime":"1971-06-29T21:03:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-06-29T21:06:00.000Z","startDate":"29-Jun-1971","startTime":"5:03 PM","endDate":"29-Jun-1971","endTime":"5:06 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;","description":"On June 29, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 5:03 pm to 5:06 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 006-026 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 6-26\n\nDate: June 29, 1971\nTime: 5:03 pm - 5:06 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.\n\n[See Conversation No. 531-28C]\n\n     Special security clearances outside government\n          -Restriction\n          -Defense-related industries\n          -Brookings Institution\n          -Rand Corporation\n          -Government contracts\n                -Brookings Institute\n\n     Agency clearances\n         -Department of Department\n         -State Department\n         -Estimates\n         -Reduction to 10,000 clearances\n         -New top secret classification\n         -Executive Orders governing classifications","filename":["006-026.mp3"],"tapeStart":"00:24:24","tapeEnd":"00:27:31","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Haig, Alexander M., Jr."],"prevCode":"006-025","nextCode":"006-027","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":1.97,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":3.54,"end":4.24,"text":"General Hanks."},{"start":4.46,"end":19.21,"text":"Al, you want to be sure that we're going forward on that study, I mean, that action I asked on immediately checking to see who has Q clearances outside this government and start getting those shut off."},{"start":20.03,"end":20.39,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":20.45,"end":21.48,"text":"I've got a group..."},{"start":21.5,"end":24.16,"text":"The Brookings Institute, the Rand Corporation, and all the rest."},{"start":24.56,"end":26.78,"text":"And we just do it solely on the basis that we're..."},{"start":27.07,"end":30.51,"text":"changing the classification system and that we're at the present time just shutting them off."},{"start":30.53,"end":32.5,"text":"Well, we've got a massive legal problem, sir."},{"start":32.52,"end":35.7,"text":"I've got all of the departments in there with me right now on this subject."},{"start":35.76,"end":36.2,"text":"You have?"},{"start":36.45,"end":36.83,"text":"Oh, good."},{"start":36.85,"end":37.03,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":37.05,"end":40.61,"text":"There are existing contracts, you see, that may have legal basis."},{"start":40.63,"end":41.03,"text":"Brookings?"},{"start":42.08,"end":43.16,"text":"Is Brookings out of contract?"},{"start":43.36,"end":44.66,"text":"They think Brookings does."},{"start":44.96,"end":47.59,"text":"But Brookings doesn't have any contracts that I ever approved."},{"start":48.33,"end":51.91,"text":"Now, God damn it, I want to know how that got by me, if they have one with Brookings."},{"start":51.93,"end":52.77,"text":"Now, I really want to know."},{"start":53.02,"end":55.08,"text":"All right, sir, we have to go through the whole contract."},{"start":55.1,"end":57.4,"text":"If it was done in this administration, I want to know why."},{"start":57.42,"end":61.15,"text":"I want to know who signed it, who approved it, okay?"},{"start":61.35,"end":62.03,"text":"All right, sir, fine."},{"start":62.05,"end":66.96,"text":"On Brookings, because I gave specific orders in January of 1969 not to do anything to Brookings."},{"start":67.24,"end":71.23,"text":"Oh, well, that's been promulgated, but some of these things are quite old, you know."},{"start":71.39,"end":72.24,"text":"All right."},{"start":72.26,"end":73.44,"text":"I have to get all this."},{"start":73.46,"end":89.72,"text":"Well, anyway, now what about the business about having the various agencies, I mean, like the Defense Department and the State Department and the rest, immediately reexamine their own, I mean, reduce the number of people who have access to classified documents?"},{"start":89.8,"end":90.63,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":90.75,"end":91.49,"text":"We're doing this."},{"start":91.57,"end":95.55,"text":"First, we're having them submit to us the numbers, and they're astronomical."},{"start":95.59,"end":97.12,"text":"They're over a million, sir."},{"start":97.45,"end":98.07,"text":"A million?"},{"start":98.17,"end":99.93,"text":"Top secret and above, yes, sir."},{"start":99.97,"end":101.09,"text":"That's the estimate right now."},{"start":101.11,"end":103.84,"text":"A million people have access to top secret and above documents?"},{"start":103.86,"end":104.8,"text":"Yes, sir, very probably."},{"start":104.82,"end":106.02,"text":"Well, don't you see the problem?"},{"start":106.38,"end":107,"text":"Sure."},{"start":107.02,"end":108.16,"text":"It's unbelievable."},{"start":108.28,"end":108.96,"text":"It's ridiculous."},{"start":109.78,"end":113.25,"text":"Probably a lot of that is in defense, of course, isn't it?"},{"start":113.27,"end":115.45,"text":"A great number in defense, a great number in state."},{"start":115.47,"end":119.04,"text":"Almost every State Department employee apparently has a top secret."},{"start":119.02,"end":143.39,"text":"all right all right well let's get at it and just just shake them up and tell them we're gonna we're gonna read and then i want recommendations to cut that to one hundred thousand well no ten thousand you understand yes sir let me get the number straight ten thousand now we're gonna have a new top secret classification also i want you to give me what how how how is the top secret secret so forth done is that set up by law"},{"start":144.08,"end":146.16,"text":"By executive order or how?"},{"start":146.18,"end":147.86,"text":"Yes, two executive regulations."},{"start":147.94,"end":150.03,"text":"Can the regulations be changed?"},{"start":150.61,"end":151.65,"text":"Yes, sir, they can."},{"start":151.67,"end":152.83,"text":"Without going to the Congress?"},{"start":153.67,"end":154.39,"text":"I believe they can."},{"start":154.49,"end":156.19,"text":"All right, give me a memo on that."},{"start":156.31,"end":156.84,"text":"I want to know."},{"start":157.26,"end":159.64,"text":"And we'll change the classification."},{"start":160.02,"end":163.59,"text":"And then what I want to tell is a new classification."},{"start":164.14,"end":167.28,"text":"And I'm going to limit it to people that need it."},{"start":167.38,"end":170.83,"text":"And let the little shitasses have their $100,000."},{"start":170.89,"end":171.39,"text":"I don't care."},{"start":171.43,"end":173.98,"text":"And they can see all the stuff that is not and call it top secret."},{"start":174,"end":177.44,"text":"But we've got to have a new classification for documents that are really secret."},{"start":177.46,"end":179.27,"text":"We've got to separate the cats from the dogs."},{"start":179.31,"end":180.91,"text":"Now, this has got to be done, Al."},{"start":181.65,"end":183.77,"text":"And I want you to crack the whip on these bastards."},{"start":184.09,"end":186.64,"text":"We've got them all hopping right now."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon directs Alexander M. Haig, Jr. to revoke security clearances for personnel at private entities like the Brookings Institution and Rand Corporation, citing a need to tighten the classification system. Nixon expresses alarm upon learning that over a million individuals currently hold top-secret access, demanding a drastic reduction to 10,000 clearances. He requests a legal memorandum on modifying classification executive orders to establish a more exclusive, restrictive hierarchy for sensitive government documents.","topics":["Security clearances","Brookings Institution","Executive Orders","Document classification","Government bureaucracy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T22:08:03.281Z"},"topicSlugs":["security-clearances","brookings-institution","executive-orders","document-classification","government-bureaucracy"],"audioDurationSec":187,"audioFiles":[{"file":"006-026.mp3","bytes":4492403,"durationSec":187.09,"bitrate":192100,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:21.078Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/006-026.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/006-026","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/6/conversation-006-026","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}