David R. Young Papers, White House Special Files, 1969-1973
1969-1973
Title: David R. Young Papers, White House Special Files, 1969-1973
Dates: 1969-1973
Collection Number: 6852606
Creator/Collector:
Young, David R. (David Reginald), 1936-
Extent: 12 linear feet, 3 linear inches; 28 boxes
Repository:
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Abstract: David Young was Special Assistant to the National Security Council and later was detailed to the Domestic Council to work
for Egil Krogh. In the latter position he was involved in domestic and external security matters including investigating leaks
of information within the administration. He was a co-director of the White House Special Investigations Unit ("The Plumbers").
Because of the sensitivity of Young's responsibilities many of the NSC documents in his files have been withdrawn for national
security reasons.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research. Some materials may be unavailable based upon categories of materials exempt from public release
established in the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974.
Most government records are in the public domain; however, this series includes commercial materials, such as newspaper clippings,
that may be subject to copyright restrictions. Researchers should contact the copyright holder for information.
David R. Young Papers, White House Special Files, 1969-1973. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
These materials are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration under the provisions of Title I of
the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-526, 88 Stat. 1695) and implementing regulations.
Scope and Content of Collection
Except for a few items dated in 1969, the materials of David R. Young, Jr., cover the period from January 5, 1970, to April
30, 1973. During that time he held two major, consecutive assignments within the Executive Office of the President with the
National Security Council and with the Domestic Council.
Shortly after his appointment to the Federal service, as a Special Assistant to the National Security Council, Young became
an administrative assistant to Henry A. Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. For the most
part, his duties for the next year and a half involved arranging Council staff meetings, handling Kissinger's office appointments,
taking part in a detailed study of the Brookings Institution, and assisting with briefing sessions for Kissinger prior to
his meetings with the President, with news correspondents, and before his public speaking engagements.
At the beginning of July 1971, Young was permanently detailed to the Domestic Council, where he worked with Egil Krogh, deputy
to Presidential Assistant John D. Ehrlichman. In his new duties, Young became concerned with domestic and external security
matters, and he worked with them for the most of the remainder of his tenure at the White House.
At the Domestic Council, Young was closely involved with the writing of Executive Order Number 11652, subsequently promulgated
on March 8, 1972. This directive established a new government-wide system that provided improved and progressive rules and
procedures for the classification and the accelerated declassification of government documents relating to national security
information and matters.
To assist in providing the means by which the United States government could better protect against the violence practiced
in 1972-73 by international terrorist organizations, Young served as the Domestic Council's representative to the Cabinet
Committee to Combat Terrorism. This agency became an effective interdepartmental intelligence evaluating group which provided
American guidance, cooperation, and assistance in an international cooperative effort relating to combating and containing
international terrorists and their violence.
While working with these governmental organizations and as a result of the appearance in the media of sensitive and frequently
classified security information, Young was directed to lend his abilities toward investigating and helping stop information
leaks within the Nixon administration. This was in direct response to the publication by The New York Times of "The Pentagon
Papers," which comprised some 7,000 pages of classified material assembled from sensitive and classified files belonging to
the Departments of State and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency. Toward the end of stopping the unauthorized release
of government information, the White House Special Investigations Unit was formed and included, under Egil Krogh and Young's
co-direction, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy.
Better known subsequently as "The Plumbers," this group participated in clandestine activities–the 1971 attempted burglary
of the office of "Pentagon Papers" defendant Daniel Ellsberg's former psychiatrist and of the 1972 attempted burglary of the
Democratic National Committee headquarters located in The Watergate Hotel. The discovery of both attempted burglaries lead
directly to "The Plumbers" resignations from government service and, except for Young, prison sentences. Young was spared
jail through the grant of limited immunity on the motion of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
(the "Senate Watergate Investigation Committee") and the approval of United States District Judge John J. Sirica on July 5,
1973.
There is one folder of additional material in the Names Files of the National Security Council Files which bears Young's name.
The materials are arranged into three series:
Chronological Files,
Subject Files,
Files of the Working Group of the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism.