On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) met in executive session by video teleconference. PIDB Chair Ezra Cohen led the virtual meeting, which was attended by members Paul-Noel Chretien, Trey Gowdy, Michael Lawrence, Ben Powell, Alissa Starzak, and John Tierney.
Stephannie Oriabure, Director of the Archival Operations Division, Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services at the National Archives and Records Administration, briefed the PIDB on the availability and challenges of accessing records at the George W. Bush Presidential Library relating to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001 (9/11). The PIDB staff briefed the members on the accessibility at executive branch agencies of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) releases relating to the 9/11 attacks. The members also discussed presenting a Letter to the President with recommendations to modernize declassification; progress on responding to a Congressional request to review the classification of Federal records; and their plans for the PIDB Virtual Public Meeting scheduled for May 18, 2021.
The agenda for the PIDB Executive Session of April 13, 2021, is available on the PIDB website, under PIDB Meetings – 2021.