Allen Weinstein: Archivist of the U.S. Reports on Progress of Declassification
In a meeting with representatives of the research community in September 2006, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein reported on the progress being made in the effort to implement the National Declassification Initiative (NDI), a new set of policies, declassification practices, procedures, and the organizational structure believed to be needed to create a more reliable executive branch-wide declassification program for federal records. The archivist said, "When we last met in April, I promised that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) would act swiftly and responsibly to begin to address the very serious challenges that we face in coordinating with other federal agencies in the realm of declassification." Weinstein stated that effort is now being implemented.
The new NARA initiative was conceived in response to an April 2006 audit report by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) entitled "Withdrawal of Records from Public Access at the National Archives and Records Administration for Classification Purposes." Weinstein explained the objectives, milestones, and progress to date for the initiative that the archivist hopes will serve as the catalyst for declassification reform among federal agencies.
During the meeting that brought together representatives of the National Coalition for History, the American Historical Association, the National Security Archive, the Federation of American Scientists, and several other groups, Weinstein explained how the program would establish a better means for managing referrals of classified equities between executive branch agencies. In addition to the NDI, the meeting included a briefing on the National Archives program for handling the systematic declassification of presidential records called the Remote Archives Capture Project. The archivist explained that all federal agencies are being encouraged to participate in and support both of these declassification initiatives....
Read entire article at Bruce Craig in Perspectives, the newsmagazine of the AHA
The new NARA initiative was conceived in response to an April 2006 audit report by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) entitled "Withdrawal of Records from Public Access at the National Archives and Records Administration for Classification Purposes." Weinstein explained the objectives, milestones, and progress to date for the initiative that the archivist hopes will serve as the catalyst for declassification reform among federal agencies.
During the meeting that brought together representatives of the National Coalition for History, the American Historical Association, the National Security Archive, the Federation of American Scientists, and several other groups, Weinstein explained how the program would establish a better means for managing referrals of classified equities between executive branch agencies. In addition to the NDI, the meeting included a briefing on the National Archives program for handling the systematic declassification of presidential records called the Remote Archives Capture Project. The archivist explained that all federal agencies are being encouraged to participate in and support both of these declassification initiatives....