Obama moves to release Reagan records

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama, in a break with his predecessor, will allow the release of presidential records from the Reagan administration, documents indicate.

White House Counsel Greg Craig told the National Archives and Records Administration in a letter that the agency could release nearly 250,000 pages of records from Ronald Reagan's White House years that were kept from the public during a lengthy review process by former President George W. Bush, the Washington publication Politico reported Saturday.

"Pursuant to (President Obama's) executive order, NARA may release these records -- opening close to 250,000 pages of history," Craig wrote to NARA Director Nancy Kegan Smith.

The move comes after years of bitter complaints from scholars and historians that Bush was taking so long to decide whether to release the Reagan documents, leading many to accuse him of stalling and causing a backlog in the release of presidential records, Politico said.

"This is a great development," said Scott Nelson of the Public Citizen Litigation Group. "It's very encouraging that the Bush order and the burden it imposes on the White House to do a page-by-page review apparently won't be taking place under this administration."