The PIDB’s Virtual Public Meeting is tomorrow

It is not too late to register for this virtual meeting tomorrow from 11:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.! Register here by providing your name and email contact information. After registering, you will receive instructions on how to call in to the PIDB’s virtual public meeting. The Members of the PIDB will provide an overview of the … Continue reading The PIDB’s Virtual Public Meeting is tomorrow

The PIDB Invites You to a Virtual Public Meeting on June 5, 2020

The Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) will hold a virtual public meeting on Friday, June 5, 2020, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Participation in this audio conference requires registering your name and email contact information here by Midnight on Thursday, June 4, 2020. After registering, participants will receive instructions via email on how to … Continue reading The PIDB Invites You to a Virtual Public Meeting on June 5, 2020

Forward Progress: Congress Requires DOD to Develop Machine Readable DD-214 Military Service Records by December 31, 2023

By requiring the Secretary of Defense to implement machine readable and electronically transferable DD-214s (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) by December 31, 2023, the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) supports digital transformation as recommended by the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB). The PIDB continues to recommend digital transformation … Continue reading Forward Progress: Congress Requires DOD to Develop Machine Readable DD-214 Military Service Records by December 31, 2023

FY2020 NDAA Requires Pentagon Report on Declassification Backlog

The Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires the Secretary of Defense to submit an unclassified “report on reducing the backlog in legally required historical declassification obligations of the Department of Defense” to the Armed Services Committees of the House and the Senate (P.L. 116-92, Sec. 1759). The report is due to these … Continue reading FY2020 NDAA Requires Pentagon Report on Declassification Backlog

The Public Interest Declassification Board Remains Active During the COVID-19 National Emergency

The Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) members and staff remain active preparing for an in-person meeting to be scheduled as circumstances allow under the current COVID-19 national emergency.  In addition to supporting PIDB members in scheduling the in-person meeting, PIDB staff will continue to publish here on Transforming Classification, and remain responsive to questions and … Continue reading The Public Interest Declassification Board Remains Active During the COVID-19 National Emergency

Public Panels Scheduled Next Week to Discuss Priorities in Declassification Review

On Thursday, March 12, 2020, officials from several Intelligence Community (IC) agencies and three offices within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will join in two public panels at NARA’s William G. McGowan Theater, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408. Panelists will discuss issues concerning the recent past, current state, and future prospects … Continue reading Public Panels Scheduled Next Week to Discuss Priorities in Declassification Review

Katyn Massacre Records Show Need to Prioritize Disclosure of Historical Information with Significant Public Interest

On February 25, 2020, the Wilson Center commemorated the 80th anniversary of the executions by Soviet intelligence forces of over 22,000 Polish prisoners in the Russian provinces of Smolensk, Kalinin, and Kharkiv in Ukraine. The prisoners represented a majority of Poland’s governing elite—military, police, and civil society leaders captured in 1939, when the Soviet Union … Continue reading Katyn Massacre Records Show Need to Prioritize Disclosure of Historical Information with Significant Public Interest

PIDB Reauthorized by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 retroactively reauthorizes the Board from December 30, 2018.  As a result, Board members whose terms were set to end between January 1, 2019 and December 30, 2019, are extended for another year. The current authorizing legislation extends the terms of James E. Baker and Trevor … Continue reading PIDB Reauthorized by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act

NSA Research Director Wants ‘Accelerated AI’ to Augment Human Analysis

The need to accelerate deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by executive branch agencies also requires the development and retention of human expertise, according to Dr. Deborah Frincke, Director of Research at the National Security Agency (NSA).  Speaking at the industry-sponsored media event “Accelerated AI: Shaping the Future of Government with Artificial Intelligence” (11/13/2018), in Washington, … Continue reading NSA Research Director Wants ‘Accelerated AI’ to Augment Human Analysis

Looking Back and Moving Forward, PIDB Promotes Modernization, Efficiency in Declassification

On October 27, 1999, when he introduced the first bill to create the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB), Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan cited the founding patriot James Madison: “A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” Sen. Moynihan argued that in the decades after World … Continue reading Looking Back and Moving Forward, PIDB Promotes Modernization, Efficiency in Declassification