National Archives halts reclassification of documents

[katty]

cont'd: http://rawstory.com/news/2006/National_Archives_halts_reclassification_of_documents_0302.html


National Archives halts reclassification of documents
RAW STORY
Published: March 2, 2006


After complaints from historians, the National Archives on Thursday directed intelligence agencies to stop removing previously declassified historical documents from public access and urged them to return to the shelves as quickly as possible many of the records they had already pulled, the New York Times reports Friday. Excerpts (full story when RSS-free moves):

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Allen Weinstein, the nation's chief archivist, announced what he called a "moratorium" on reclassification of documents until an audit can be completed to determine which records should be secret.

A group of historians recently found that decades-old documents that they had photocopied years ago and that appeared to have little sensitivity had disappeared from the open files. They learned that in a program operated in secrecy since 1999, intelligence and defense agencies had removed more than 55,000 pages that agency officials believed had been wrongly declassified.

[teriyaki jones]

1. Program has operated since 1999 ? ? ?

So who initiated it? Clinton? That feels weird.

[ellenfl]

2. could have been * cleansing the archives so

he would have no skeletons to explain. after all, the congress was republican controlled by then and daddy used to be the head of the cia.

ellen fl

[katty]

3. yeah, poppy bush has alot of CIA docs scrubbed around '99-2001

[applegrove]

4. Setting a precedent so that the whole Bush thing can be classified

long after he is gone?

[rodeodance]

5. good for the historians.

[rodeodance]

6. look at the examples that are included!

.....Historians have found that among the documents removed from open files are intelligence estimates from the Korean War, reports on Communism in Mexico in the 1960's and Treasury Department records from the 60's. The historians argue that there is no justification for keeping such papers secret.

Mr. Leonard has said he was shocked after reviewing a selection of documents presented by the historians, none of which he thought should be secret.

Matthew M. Aid, an intelligence historian in Washington who first uncovered the reclassification program and who attended the meeting with Mr. Weinstein, said the archivist's actions were "a positive first step." But Mr. Aid said "the real deals are going to get made" only after next week's meeting with the intelligence agencies.

Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which has posted many of the reclassified documents on its Web site, said Mr. Weinstein "took our concerns very positively." She said he did not promise that the reclassifications would stop permanently, but assured the historians that "if it happens, it will be guided by better standards and it will be more transparent."