Statement on Bomber's Manuscript

Following is the joint statement yesterday by Donald E. Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times, about their decision to publish the manuscript by the terrorist known by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the Unabomber:

For three months The Washington Post and The New York Times have jointly faced the demand of a person known as the Unabomber that we publish a manuscript of about 35,000 words. If we failed to do so, the author of this document threatened to send a bomb to an unspecified destination "with intent to kill."

From the beginning, the two newspapers have consulted closely on the issue of whether to publish under the threat of violence. We have also consulted law enforcement officials. Both the Attorney General and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have now recommended that we print this document for public safety reasons, and we have agreed to do so.

Therefore, copies of the Unabomber's unaltered manuscript are being distributed in today's Washington Post. The decision to print was made jointly by the two newspapers, and we will split the costs of publishing. It is being printed in The Post because of The Post's mechanical ability to distribute a separate section in all copies of its daily paper. DONALD E. GRAHAM ARTHUR SULZBERGER JR.