On Thursday, September 24, 2020, the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) met in executive session. The agenda for that session is available on the PIDB website. The meeting began with PIDB Executive Secretary Mark Bradley administering the oath of office to Harold (“Trey”) Gowdy III, who was appointed to the PIDB by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The Members discussed their reaction to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s hearing on “Declassification Policy and Prospects for Reform” held on September 9, 2020. PIDB member John Tierney testified and responded to Senators questions. The Members discussed plans for the virtual public meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 7 at noon via WebEx. In addition to these agenda items, the PIDB discussed a request from Senator Christopher S. Murphy to review certain documents pursuant to the Public Interest Declassification Act (Section 703b(5) of P.L. 106-567). The Members requested that the PIDB staff begin working on the request and coordinate with the agencies involved.
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A reminder that the PIDB will host a virtual public meeting on October 7, 2020 from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. on WebEx: Registration information will be provided shortly via this blog. Attendees are requested to submit questions using pidb@nara.gov. Please also enter your email address to follow this blog on the home page of Transforming Classification.