Declassification Realities A presentation for the

Transcript:Declassification Realities A presentation for the:
Declassification Realities A presentation for the Military Archives and Records Section meeting August 12, 2020 John C. Powers and William C. Carpenter, Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives and Records Administration 1 Overview: What, Where, How, Why What declassification is Where declassification happens How declassification actually works Why declassification is so important 2 Who are these people, and why should I listen to them? Bill Carpenter: 1995-1999: U.S. Army’s Gulf War Declassification Project; Army Declassification Activity 1999-2001: Joint Personnel Recovery Agency: operational prisoner of war/escape and evasion records 2001-2007: Declassification archivist at NARA: Korean War; Joint Staff records 2007-2020: Information Security Oversight Office analyst: Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel; declassification program assessments; classified outside Government control assistance 2019-2020: Acting Director for Access, National Security Council John Powers: 1991-1995: Nixon Presidential Materials Project; Reference Archivist and Nixon Tapes Archivist 1995-1996: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library; LBJ Tapes Archivist; Foreign Relations of the U.S. (FRUS) Archivist 1997-2007: Nixon Presidential Materials Project; Subject Matter Expert, Supervisory Archivist, Deputy Director 2007-2015: ISOO; Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, Declassification program assessments, Public Interest Declassification Board 2015-2018: National Security Council: Director for Access 2018-2020: ISOO: Associate Director for Classification Management 3 I: What Declassification is (and is not) Declassification is: The process by which information is determined to no longer need the protections required for Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret information Governed by Executive Order 13526, “Classified National Security Information” An art, not a science Declassification is not: The release to the public of information Truly “automatic” [yet] 4 II: Where Declassification Happens In Agencies: Original Classification Authorities (OCAs) in program offices Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) programs Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) programs Discretionary release initiatives “Automatic” review programs: 25-year-old (and older) records At the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) National Declassification Center Accessioned Federal Records Presidential Materials and Records 5 III: How Declassification Happens: MDR Mandatory Declassification Review Established under section 3.5 of E.O. 13526 Mandatory means mandatory: all classified information (minus some restrictions) can be requested Requests must be targeted and precise: no fishing or broad requests Anybody can request: US citizens, non-US citizens (for non-Intelligence Community records), other Government officials Denials can be appealed, ultimately to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel Classified Outside of Government: If you are not a U.S. Government repository and encounter classified materials, contact ISOO@nara.gov 6 III: How Declassification Happens: MDR, Cont’d Every Agency must have an