_Exceptions to Statutory Reporting Requirements_: As chief recipient of agency reports, Congress very obviously suffers the maximum loss when it sanctions suppression of reporting requirements in the interest of national security. Indicative of its sacrifice are provisions in the Communications Act of 1934 authorizing the Federal Communications Commission “to withhold publication of records or proceedings containing secret information effecting the national defense.”[458] Of like import is the requirement in a statute delegating to the President power to authorize production, transfer or export of war material by federal agencies. The Chief Executive had to notify Congress at least every 90 days regarding war material exports. He could withhold, however, whatever information disclosure of which he deemed incompatible with the public interest.[459] In the month following Pearl Harbor the Secretary of State was authorized during the existence of a state of war to omit or dispense with reports required by the Neutrality Act of 1939.[460] In extending the effect of certain emergency statutes Congress, in the Mutual Security Act of 1951, permitted the President to submit biannual reports on operations under the Act. He was privileged to exclude from his report information, the disclosure of which he deemed incompatible with the security of the United States.[461] To prevent information of value to the enemy from being disclosed in litigation during World War II, Congress provided for staying of judicial proceedings against the U.S. in time of war on claims for damages caused by Navy vessels, or for towage or salvage services to such vessels, when the Secretary of the Navy certified that the prosecution of such proceedings would endanger the security of naval operations or interfere therewith.[462] Upon receipt of certification courts were required to stay all further proceedings in a suit until six months after the cessation of hostilities or until an approved earlier date as stated in the certificate. The claimant could petition the Secretary of the Navy to reconsider the stay, but his petition was not to contain any recital of the facts or circumstances involved. Identification of a petitioner’s case was to be solely by reference to the Secretary’s certificate.[463] _Suspension of Financial Controls_: In a partially regulated economy, advertising and competitive bidding on public contracts benefit producer and taxpayer. These requirements insure relatively equal access to public contracts by private entrepreneurs, minimize nepotism or favoritism, and protect the public from extravagance. In a controlled war economy advertising and public bidding very probably would frustrate efforts to rationalize the productive facilities of the nation, and certainly would present the enemy with valuable intelligence. Indeed, intelligence considerations may lead to provision for the secret letting of certain contracts, even in time of peace.