President Obama announced yesterday afternoon his intention to nominate William Leary to serve a second three-year term on the PIDB. The members are pleased to learn of his reappointment and we are looking forward to his continued help in advocating for transforming the national security classification system. Before his retirement from Government service as the Senior Director for Records Access and Management at the National Security Council, Bill was instrumental in assisting us as we developed recommendations to improve declassification. After his retirement, the President nominated him to serve as a member of the PIDB. Bill helped us fulfill the President’s request that we study the classification system and make recommendations on its modernization. Most recently, Bill led our effort to highlight and make additional reforms to the way our Government declassifies information. This supplemental report, Setting Priorities: An Essential Step in Transforming Declassification, recognizes the need for the Government to target its declassification efforts on information of most interest to the public.
Bill is a key member of our Board and we look forward to working with him as he begins his second term. Congratulations Bill!