American Notes ESPIONAGE

They say a little learning is a dangerous thing. Ask Todd Patterson. He had just finished the sixth grade in Franklin Lakes, N.J., when he began compiling his own encyclopedia of all the nations of the world. He wrote to embassies -- including the Soviet Union's -- for information. Enter the FBI, which began investigating the boy and kept at it until it had built up a 17-page file. Now an 18-year-old high school senior, Patterson brought suit in May against the FBI to get access to the files. Last week a federal judge threw out the suit. After reviewing FBI documents that Patterson's lawyers were not allowed to see, U.S. District Judge Alfred M. Wolin decided the bureau had acted "in the interest of national security." The judge added that he hoped the FBI would expunge Patterson's file as it has offered to do, but Patterson's parents object that the bureau might start a new one. "Todd is still writing to foreign governments," says his father. Maybe Todd should have collected baseball cards.