By FRANK
BASS and RANDY HERSCHAFT, Associated
The National Archives agreed to seal
previously public CIA and Pentagon records and to keep silent about
The 2002 agreement, requested three
years ago by The Associated
"It is in the interest of both
(unnamed agency) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 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 agreement said.
The agreement was originally stamped
"secret." The National Archives and Records Administration provided a
redacted copy of the agreement to AP under FOIA this week and then posted the
document on its Web site.
The agreement said the archives
"will not acknowledge the role of (redacted) AFDO in the review of these
documents or the withholding of any documents determined to need continued
protection from unauthorized disclosure." AFDO stands for Air Force
Declassification Office.
"
National
"It is an important first step
in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and
protecting the right to know by the American public," Weinstein said.
Intelligence officials began
reviewing documents for reclassification in 1999, The New York Times reported
earlier this year.
The number of documents that have
been removed from public view, however, has soared since President Bush took
office in 2001 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred.
An estimated 55,000 pages within
10,000 documents have been removed from public view, ranging from information
about 1948 anti-American riots in
Weinstein announced a moratorium on
the reclassification last month so his information security oversight office
can audit the process.
Historians expressed concern about
the secrecy in the reclassification agreement.
"This whole activity was
effectively concealed," said Steven Aftergood,
director of the Federation of American Scientists' government secrecy project.
"It's baffling. It's basically a covert action taking place at the
National Archives."
Aftergood also said he found it odd that the agreement named two of the agencies
involved in the reclassification program — the U.S. Air Force and Central
Intelligence Agency — but redacted the name of a third, arguing it would
compromise national security, reveal internal government deliberations and
violate statutes against disclosure of specific information.
In congressional testimony last
month, a historian said the third agency was the Defense Intelligence Agency,
but archivists refused to address his assertions.
Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for
the National Security Archive, a private governmental research group in
"It seems odd that they would
be so willing to accept this," she said. "But
William Leonard, head of the
archive's information security oversight office, told lawmakers last month that
protecting agency secrets while providing information to the public requires
delicate balancing.
"When information is improperly
declassified, or is not classified in the first place although clearly
warranted, our citizens, our democratic institutions, our homeland security,
and our interactions with foreign nations can be subject to potential
harm," Leonard said.
"Conversely, too much
classification ... or inappropriate reclassification, unnecessarily obstructs
effective information sharing and impedes an informed citizenry, the hallmark
of our democratic form of government."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/archive_secrecy;_ylt=AnzOa72jMbCO7rKy99rn5zWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
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