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
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Presentation Transcript
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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<br>
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Overview: What, Where, How, Why What declassification is
Where declassification happens
How declassification actually works
Why declassification is so important 2<br>
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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<br>
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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<br>
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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<br>
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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<br>
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III: How Declassification Happens: MDR, Cont’d Every Agency must have an MDR process: See DoD Manual 5230.30:
https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodm/523030m.pdf
Reviews involve:
Identifying other agency equity and sending referrals out to those agencies**
Coordinating with agency program offices for current classification guidance
Understanding your agency’s ability to keep information classified beyond 25 years
Identifying information not subject to release due to non-national security reasons:
Personal privacy
Valid statute: International Traffic in Arms Regulations; CIA names; NSA organization, for example
** If required 7<br>
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III: How Declassification Happens: “Automatic Declassification” In 1995, President Clinton’s E.O. 12958 said:
All permanent classified records of the U.S. Government will be automatically declassified when they reach 25 years old
Agencies may exempt certain records from automatic declassification
Intelligence sources and methods, technology, war plans, foreign relations, etc.
Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel must approve the exemptions
Agencies started massive review programs for NARA records and records in Federal Records Centers: tabbing documents for exemption and referral
In 2009, President Obama updated and signed E.O. 13526
Established 25, 50, and 75-year automatic declassification requirements
Established the National Declassification Center at NARA to process accessioned records for public access 8<br>
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III: How Declassification Happens: Special Projects Section 3.1(d) of E.O. 13526 recognizes that sometimes the public interest in the disclosure of information can outweigh the need for secrecy
U.S. Declassification Project for Argentina: U.S. records concerning Argentina’s “Dirty War” of the 1970s and 1980s.
Strengthens foreign relations
Enables accountability and reconciliation
Dispels rumors and conspiracies
President’s Daily Brief
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
Glomar Explorer/Project Azorian
Intelligence successes and Cold War Understanding
Legal Requirements
Foreign Relations of the United States series by the Department of State
Presidential action: Ukraine transcript
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf 9<br>
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IV: Why should we care? Access to the records of the U.S. Government enables American democracy
Recognition that U.S. Government records belong to the “People”
Permits citizens to actively participate in evaluating actions of their Government
Hold Government accountable
Denial of access to records is a characteristic of authoritarian governments
The experience of the French Revolution
Russia in the post-Soviet years
Consider the British:
Phased declassification of most government records
National Archives only handles declassified records
Intelligence records are excluded from declassification 10<br>
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Contact Information Information Security Oversight Office: https://www.archives.gov/isoo
