Nov. 22, 2004

Publishing letters in a timely manner

In the Reader's Forum, you published a letter "Pitfalls of National Security Assessments," by Bernard Foy. He referenced a Oct. 3 New York Times story, "How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence" by David Barstow, William J. Broad and Jeff Gerth. Mr. Foy's letter was dated Sept. 6.

I assume the actual date of Mr. Foy's letter was Oct. 6. In any event, why it should take six weeks from the time of submission to the time of publication? The Times story is now only available if purchased.

If letters to the Reader's Forum are to be of value to the Laboratory, they must be published in a timely manner. This much delay is absurd. As it happens, I downloaded a copy of that story when it was published and have it on my computer. It is fascinating reading indeed.

--Khalil Spencer