On January 10, 2022, Ezra Cohen, Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) submitted letters on behalf of the Board to Congress, outlining its work in 2021. Recipients of the PIDB’s letter included:
- The four Congressional Leaders and
- The Chair and Ranking Member of the following committees:
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
- House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
- Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee
- House Committee on Oversight and Reform
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- House Appropriations Committee
- Senate Armed Services Committee
- House Armed Services Committee
- Senate Foreign Relations Committee and
- House Foreign Affairs Committee.
PIDB Chair Ezra Cohen highlighted the Board’s actions and activities to improve public access to Government records. This work included hosting virtual meetings and briefings; virtual public meetings were streamed on YouTube Live. They resulted in three letters to the President and included recommendations to prioritize the declassification of historically significant records related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks upon America and to increase transparency and public access to withheld records from the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection. Cohen also highlighted the lack of independent appropriations for its permanent status, explaining that a dedicated budget that would enable the PIDB to fulfill expanding requirements set forth by Congress, most recently by way of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
To see the PIDB’s 2021 Annual Report to Congress, together with Chairman Ezra Cohen’s letter submitting the report: