Category: Declassification

For the Public Interest Declassification Board: The former head of the Information Security Oversight Office, responsible for oversight of the US classification system, has acknowledged that classification officials joke that “you could easily classify the ham sandwich.”[1]  Barack Obama has summarized the tension between the public’s right to know and the necessity for the government … Continue reading “There’s classified, and then there’s classified:” Tangible Steps to Fix the Classification and Declassification System by Nate Jones, National Security Archive

A White Paper Submission to the PIDB: Section 102(d)(3) of the National Security Act of 1947 (1) makes the Director of National Intelligence responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. The director has "very broad authority to protect all sources of intelligence information from disclosure."(2) As has been regularly noted, though, almost … Continue reading Clarify and Delimit Scope of Classified “Methods,” by Patrice McDermott, OpentheGovernment.org

A White Paper Submission to the PIDB: In a political climate where consensus is rare, there is remarkably little dispute about the need for classification reform. Officials from Democratic and Republican administrations agree that far too much information is unnecessarily classified and that the current declassification process is wholly inadequate to handle the oncoming wave … Continue reading Eight Steps to Reduce Overclassification and Rescue Declassification by Elizabeth Goitein, The Brennan Center for Justice

A White Paper Submission to the PIDB: Thank you to Chairman Morrison and to the Board for getting this conversation started. Assuming that the next Administration will in fact prepare a new executive order on classification policy, I would like to propose two specific steps for consideration: (1) a new procedure for considering declassification of … Continue reading Modernizing the National Security Classification and Declassification Systems Through the Next Administration’s Executive Order, by Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists

Yesterday, PIDB member Sanford Ungar attended a briefing by Dr. Cheryl Martin entitled, Decision Support Technology for Records Declassification Review and Release. Dr. Martin’s briefing was jointly sponsored by the ODNI and CIA as part of the research supporting the Congressionally-Directed Action tasked by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to the Director of National Intelligence … Continue reading Declassification Technology Update from the Center for Content Understanding (CCU)

The PIDB continues to hold to the principle of an Open Government recognizing that an informed citizenry strengthens our democracy. We realize that more work needs to be done on the important commitments articulated in the Third National Action Plan for Open Government, particularly streamlining the declassification process. Related to this initiative to limit secrecy … Continue reading It’s Always Sunny in Washington

Yesterday, the President issued the Third Open Government National Action Plan (NAP 3.0) as part of the Open Government Partnership, a cornerstone of his administration.  Included in the NAP 3.0 are new and extended commitments under the specific initiative, “Streamline the Declassification Process.”  Under this initiative, the President pledges to identify processes and tools to … Continue reading Third Open Government National Action Plan Published

Yesterday at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, the Director of National Intelligence, General James Clapper, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Brennan, announced the declassification of over 2,500 historical Presidential Daily Briefs (PDB) dated from 1961 through 1969. We, the members of the PIDB, congratulate the Intelligence Community, … Continue reading Historical Presidential Daily Briefs Declassified

The PIDB encourages you to participate in the planning of the Third Open Government National Action Plan (NAP 3.0).   The Second Open Government National Action Plan included recommendations the PIDB made in its 2012 Report to the President on Transforming the Security Classification System.  These recommendations established the Security Classification Reform Committee, called for the implementation … Continue reading Help Strengthen Open Government

We welcome guest blogger, Dr. Dave Sherman, Associate Director for Policy and Records at the National Security Agency, who describes below details about NSA's recent accomplishment: the declassification review and release of records in the Friedman Collection. During the past two weeks I’ve had the privilege of participating in a series of events marking the … Continue reading NSA Declassifies and Releases the Friedman Collection