Allen Weinstein: National Archives Says Records Were Wrongly Classified
An audit by the National Archives of more than 25,000 historical documents withdrawn from public access since 1999 found that more than a third did not contain sensitive information justifying classification, archives officials announced Wednesday.
Calling the exposure of the hidden effort to reclassify records a "turning-point moment," Allen Weinstein, the head of the National Archives, announced a new effort to set consistent standards for deciding what records should be protected.
The pilot National Declassification Initiative, overseen by the archives, will seek to reduce what Mr. Weinstein called an "unconscionable backlog" of historical records not yet released and to avoid unnecessary classification in the future.
"We're in the access business, not the classification business," Mr. Weinstein said. He said all the agencies that had withdrawn records, including the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, had agreed to drop the practice of secretly reclassifying documents and to operate under new standards of transparency.
Paul Gimigliano, a C.I.A. spokesman, said the reclassification of documents had been necessary because other agencies had released C.I.A. intelligence without allowing the spy agency to review it.
"Once classified material is made accessible to the public, there are few good options to protect that information," Mr. Gimigliano said Wednesday. "That said, the C.I.A. has worked very closely with the archives to improve the process and ensure that the public has maximum access to properly declassified records."
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Calling the exposure of the hidden effort to reclassify records a "turning-point moment," Allen Weinstein, the head of the National Archives, announced a new effort to set consistent standards for deciding what records should be protected.
The pilot National Declassification Initiative, overseen by the archives, will seek to reduce what Mr. Weinstein called an "unconscionable backlog" of historical records not yet released and to avoid unnecessary classification in the future.
"We're in the access business, not the classification business," Mr. Weinstein said. He said all the agencies that had withdrawn records, including the Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency, had agreed to drop the practice of secretly reclassifying documents and to operate under new standards of transparency.
Paul Gimigliano, a C.I.A. spokesman, said the reclassification of documents had been necessary because other agencies had released C.I.A. intelligence without allowing the spy agency to review it.
"Once classified material is made accessible to the public, there are few good options to protect that information," Mr. Gimigliano said Wednesday. "That said, the C.I.A. has worked very closely with the archives to improve the process and ensure that the public has maximum access to properly declassified records."