National Archivist Says New Declassification System Is Restoring Documents to Researchers
The National Archives and Records Administration is working to streamline the process of declassifying documents and has allowed few new withdrawals of documents from open shelves since a scandal over reclassified records hit the agency last spring, the United States archivist said on Wednesday.
The archives drew fire last April, when an audit report revealed that it had struck agreements with other federal agencies, such as the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, to remove and reclassify documents, leaving no record that they had once been freely available to researchers.
At the time, the archivist, Allen Weinstein, promised to stop making secret agreements on document withdrawals (The Chronicle, April 19). Mr. Weinstein, a former professor who had only recently become the archivist, also pledged to work with federal agencies on improving declassification practices. As part of that work, the archives started the National Declassification Initiative.
In a progress report released on Wednesday, Mr. Weinstein said that only seven documents had been withdrawn from open shelves since April 26, and the withdrawals are all noted in open files. One of those documents was later declassified and put back on the shelf for public access, according to a news release.
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Education
The archives drew fire last April, when an audit report revealed that it had struck agreements with other federal agencies, such as the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, to remove and reclassify documents, leaving no record that they had once been freely available to researchers.
At the time, the archivist, Allen Weinstein, promised to stop making secret agreements on document withdrawals (The Chronicle, April 19). Mr. Weinstein, a former professor who had only recently become the archivist, also pledged to work with federal agencies on improving declassification practices. As part of that work, the archives started the National Declassification Initiative.
In a progress report released on Wednesday, Mr. Weinstein said that only seven documents had been withdrawn from open shelves since April 26, and the withdrawals are all noted in open files. One of those documents was later declassified and put back on the shelf for public access, according to a news release.