Archives Kept Reclassification Program Secret
The reclassification of tens of thousands of documents previously released by the National Archives was itself a secret, according to today's Washington Post.
However, today's revelation of National Archives' participation in keeping the reclassification itself a secret is no secret to regular readers of this blog.
The National Archives helped keep secret a multi-year effort by the Air Force, the CIA and other federal agencies to withdraw thousands of historical documents from public access on Archives shelves, even though the records had been declassified.
In a 2002 memorandum, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and released yesterday by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research library housed at George Washington University, Archives officials agreed to help pull the materials for possible reclassification and conceal the identities of anyone participating in the effort. The Associated Press reported yesterday that it had requested a copy of the memo three years ago.
"[I]t is in the interest of both [redacted agency name] and the National Archives and Records Administration to avoid the attention and researcher complaints that may arise from removing material that has already been available publicly from the open shelves for extended periods of time," the Archives memo read, in part.
Even without yesterday's memo, NARA's role in covering up the reclassification effort was no secret. Back on February 21, readers here found:
The reclassification program is itself shrouded in secrecy — governed by a still-classified memorandum that prohibits the National Archives even from saying which agencies are involved.
You read it here first folks.
However, today's revelation of National Archives' participation in keeping the reclassification itself a secret is no secret to regular readers of this blog.
The National Archives helped keep secret a multi-year effort by the Air Force, the CIA and other federal agencies to withdraw thousands of historical documents from public access on Archives shelves, even though the records had been declassified.
In a 2002 memorandum, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and released yesterday by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research library housed at George Washington University, Archives officials agreed to help pull the materials for possible reclassification and conceal the identities of anyone participating in the effort. The Associated Press reported yesterday that it had requested a copy of the memo three years ago.
"[I]t is in the interest of both [redacted agency name] and the National Archives and Records Administration to avoid the attention and researcher complaints that may arise from removing material that has already been available publicly from the open shelves for extended periods of time," the Archives memo read, in part.
Even without yesterday's memo, NARA's role in covering up the reclassification effort was no secret. Back on February 21, readers here found:
The reclassification program is itself shrouded in secrecy — governed by a still-classified memorandum that prohibits the National Archives even from saying which agencies are involved.
You read it here first folks.
posted by Effwit at 9:00 AM
4 Comments:
And it all still begs the question: What are they trying to (re-)cover up?
Strange. Very strange.
DrewL:
You made the excellent observation back when the reclassification was first revealed that the sheer volume of mundane stuff may be a diversion for a small number of really important documents that were inadvertantly or imprudently released.
Your thesis has become my working assumption about the matter.
Now just what this good stuff was is anybody's guess.
It must be some pretty important "stuff" for this type of effort to be expended in a re-classification operation. What was out there that was deemed too explosive not to hide it? Is it political? Is it strategic? Is it to cover tracks that someone doesn't want to be found?
Perhaps we'll never know.
DrewL:
My guess would be it is some infrastructure data that would be useful to terrorists. Or that the security-phobic agencies think could be used by "bad guys."
It would be more sexy if it was a political bombshell, but if I had to bet on it, I would go with the "terrorist" angle.
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