The Public Interest Declassification Board received recognition at a recent academic conference titled The Legal and Civil Policy Implications of “Leaks” at the American University Washington College of Law. A panel focusing on the legislative response to “leaks” discussed what impact over-classification and the current state of the security classification system have on the prevalence … Continue reading Support for the PIDB’s Recommendations Continues to Grow
Category: Declassification
Public Interest Declassification Board Commemorates James Madison’s Birthday and Sunshine Week
Sunshine Week is an annual initiative, which coincides with national Freedom of Information Day and James Madison’s birthday (March 16), designed to raise awareness of the importance of citizen access to Government records. As we commemorate Sunshine Week, we reaffirm the principle of an Open Government. The Public Interest Declassification Board believes that our democratic … Continue reading Public Interest Declassification Board Commemorates James Madison’s Birthday and Sunshine Week
Recommendation 14: Using Technology to Modernize Classification and Declassification
Photographs courtesy of the National Archives The classification system was created seventy years ago in an era of paper and later copier paper. Secret information was meant to be shared sparingly and disseminated to only those few Federal Government officials with a “need to know.” With the end of the Cold War, the classification … Continue reading Recommendation 14: Using Technology to Modernize Classification and Declassification
Recommendation 7: Implementing a Process for the Systematic Declassification Review of Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) Information
Documents courtesy of the National Archives and the photograph is courtesy of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. It is time to allow certain types of historical nuclear information to be reviewed for declassification and public access. In the aftermath of World War II, the Government recognized the need to keep nuclear weapons information … Continue reading Recommendation 7: Implementing a Process for the Systematic Declassification Review of Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) Information
Recommendation 8: Strengthening the Authorities of the National Declassification Center (NDC)
Photo courtesy of the National Reconnaissance Office Executive Order 13526, “Classified National Security Information” and its two predecessors established specific, time-based declassification requirements for all national security agencies. Despite these identical mandates, a Government-wide approach to declassification remains elusive. Separate agency declassification programs evolved into a segmented declassification system where each agency reviewed its information … Continue reading Recommendation 8: Strengthening the Authorities of the National Declassification Center (NDC)
Recommendations 2 and 3: A Two-tiered Classification System and the Use of Identifiable Levels of Protection to Define Classification Level
“It is time to reexamine the long-standing tension between secrecy and openness, and develop a new way of thinking about government secrecy as we move into the next century.” -Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, 1997, Senate Document 105-2, Public Law 236. Document Courtesy of the National Security Agency … Continue reading Recommendations 2 and 3: A Two-tiered Classification System and the Use of Identifiable Levels of Protection to Define Classification Level
Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists: “Set a Mandatory Performance Goal to Catalyze Transformation”
In order to induce a transformation of the national security classification system, the President should set a performance goal that will advance the desired transformation, and then mandate its achievement by executive branch agencies. Instead of trying to specify each and every one of the policy and procedural changes needed for an effective transformation, this … Continue reading Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists: “Set a Mandatory Performance Goal to Catalyze Transformation”
Harry Cooper: “Transforming the National Security Classification Process: A Perspective On the Way Ahead”
How We Got Here In signing Executive Order 13526 – the 10th Executive Order on National Security Classification signed since Roosevelt’s Order in 1940 – President Obama also stated that he looks forward to “…reviewing recommendations from the study that the National Security Advisor will undertake in cooperation with the Public Interest Declassification Board to … Continue reading Harry Cooper: “Transforming the National Security Classification Process: A Perspective On the Way Ahead”
Sharon Bradford Franklin and Alison Roach, The Constitution Project: “Reining in Excessive Secrecy: Recommendations for Reform of the Classification System”
In July 2009, The Constitution Project’s (TCP) bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee published a report entitled Reining in Excessive Secrecy: Recommendations for Reform of the Classification and Controlled Unclassified Information Systems. This report included fifteen specific recommendations to the Executive Branch and three specific recommendations for Congress, all designed to reform the classification regime. In … Continue reading Sharon Bradford Franklin and Alison Roach, The Constitution Project: “Reining in Excessive Secrecy: Recommendations for Reform of the Classification System”
Mike German, American Civil Liberties Union: “Reducing Overclassification and Protecting the Public’s Right to Know”
The American Civil Liberties Union commends the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) for recognizing the need to transform our broken national security classification system and for creating a public forum to solicit new and innovative ideas from the American people. The ACLU, a non-partisan organization dedicated to preserving the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and … Continue reading Mike German, American Civil Liberties Union: “Reducing Overclassification and Protecting the Public’s Right to Know”