The NDC is pleased to release its Fourth Bi-Annual status report. This report details the progress made since January 2010 in meeting the President’s December 29, 2009 charge to eliminate the approximately 400 million page back log of reviewed, but not publicly available records at NARA.   The report specifically focuses on progress made during the second half of 2011 and challenges that the NDC faces in meeting its goal. You may comment on the report by posting a comment to this blog or sending an email to ndc@nara.gov

On October 27, 2011, the National Declassification Center held a one-day conference on the Berlin Crisis of 1961.  The conference focused on events leading up to and following the Vienna summit between Khrushchev and Kennedy, the height of tension during August with the construction of the wall and the eventual standoff between the U.S. Army’s Berlin Brigade and the Soviet Union 80^th Tank Division.

Please follow the link to watch the video:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/302360-2

Other links:

http://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/1961-berlin-crisis/2011-conference.html

http://www.foia.cia.gov/BerlinWall.asp

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/76788.htm

The NDC has released a listing of 131 separate entries that have completed declassification processing between October 3 and December 19, 2011 and are now available for researcher request.

Highlights include records from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Requests to access the newly released records or to order copies should be directed to 2 Reference at 301-837-3510 or archives2reference@nara.gov

Here is a good article from Sunday’s Washington Post that discusses the challenges faced by the NDC and its achievements to date.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/national-archives-needs-to-declassify-a-backlog-of-nearly-400-million-pages/2011/11/29/gIQAMAYmPO_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop

The NDC has released a listing of 157 separate entries that have completed declassification processing between June and September, 2011 and are now available for researcher request.

Highlights include records from the Army, Navy, Air Force, United States Information Agency (USIA) and Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State.

Requests to access the newly released records or to order copies should be directed to Archives 2 Reference at 301-837-3510 or archives2reference@nara.gov

Although ISOO does a yeoman’s job of administering MDR appeals, the delay in some cases runs years, and the time elapsed from the original MDR request can amount to more than a decade.  How can this ISCAP appeal process be streamlined?

ISOO Response:  The ISOO provides administrative and logistical support to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel.  This body receives their authority from the President.  They are responsible for deciding on MDR appeals in accordance with the ISCAP By-Laws.  As the ISOO Annual Reports (note use of plural here) to the President have indicated, the ISCAP has seen a dramatic rise in its caseload.  During this time, the ISCAP has also taken steps to increase its productivity.  Here are some statistics that demonstrate the ISCAP’s efforts: 

2005 – the ISCAP received 26 appeals

2010 – the ISCAP received 87 appeals

 2005 – the ISCAP rendered decisions on 81 documents (results: (80% of documents were declassified in full or in part) ;

2010 – the ISCAP rendered decisions on 212 documents (results: 68% of documents were declassified in full or in part)

This time, an answer from our colleagues at the Department of Energy (DOE).

Would it be possible to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of RD/FRD with a less burdensome review process than that currently required by the Kyl-Lott Amendment?

 DOE RESPONSE:  For electronic and microfilm records, certain agencies are looking into the application of recent advances in information technology to screen and sort documents, and to accomplish the page-by-page review requirement.  This potentially can be done at a much lower agency cost.   DOE supports any effort that would result in meeting the public law requirement at a lower cost to the taxpayer.

When will the Defense Department files (Joint Staff) for issues regarding terrorism in Western Europe; East German military relations with the Arab states, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the states of Syria and Iraq be declassified for the period of the late 1960s to 1981 or so?

 Answer:  Joint Staff Central (or corporate file) records from the 1960s through 1981 are in the NDC back log and will be processed for declassification by the 2013 deadline.  These records contain policy information on many of the topics mentioned.  Depending on the subject matter, these records contain many exemptions.  Like all exempted records at NARA, those exempted documents will be noted by a withdrawal sheet will still be subject to request under FOIA or MDR.

At the June 2010 public forum, Archives official Michael Kurtz stated that one percent of the five million pages of JFK assassination records is still withheld and that these records will be processed by the National Declassification Center as it tries to clear the backlog by the end of 2013.  In light of the public interest in these records, would the Archives consider establishing a project to ensure that these JFK assassination records are processed prior to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the JFK assassination in November 2013? 

 Answer: Records associated with the JFK assassination, having previously undergone appropriate government-wide declassification review and processing, are not technically part of our 400 million page processing back log; however, they do fall under the high interest, high historical value category.  Recall that these valuable records were subject to the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which mandated that all assassination records must be released in full by 2017,   25 years after the date of the passing of the Act in 1992. To apply that requirement vigorously, the Act established the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), an independent agency set up to make sure all assassination-related records were identified and sent to NARA and that they were open to the greatest extent possible.  The power wielded by the ARRB meant that more records were declassified and made available under the JFK Act than would have been released under the Freedom of  Information Act (FOIA) or under mandatory and systematic review provisions of the Executive Order.  [The work of the ARRB is well described in their Final Report: http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/review-board/report/]  The Collection includes over five million pages, and as noted by this and other questioners, less than 1% of the documents in the Collection are withheld in full.  NARA believes that the declassification review process on these withheld records was vigorously applied under the strictest standards and at great expense.  We believe Agencies were requiredto release documents that they would not have voluntarily released, or been compelled to release, under the previous Executive Order review guidelines.  That said, NDC will examine whether the recent changes reflected in the new Executive Order (13526) are likely to result in a change of declassification status for these historical records and if that change could allow for declassification of the remaining classified material prior to 2017 in an efficient manner.  I must caution you, however, that in prioritizing parts of the backlog, we look for collections of both high interest and “declassifiability.” In the case of these records, that “declassability” standard may have already been surpassed.  As I must focus our and other government agency limited resources on the back log due December 2013, I have to take that into account before I ask other agencies to re-look at documents they may already feel they have re-reviewed sufficiently.

There were several questions that were submitted for the public forum, but not answered as we ran out of time.  Over the next several days, I will post questions and provide answers from forum participants.  As always, follow-on comments are welcome!  The first question and answer follows:

I am concerned that the declassification of State Department records is well behind a 25 or 30 year rule. It is important that the “Post Files” (Record Group 84) of US Embassies and Consulates be declassified in timely manner. When will the Post Files for the US Embassy in Bonn, the US consulate in Frankfurt, the US Mission in West Berlin, and the US Embassies in Tel Aviv, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Bagdad be declassified? I have the same question about the files of the US Embassies in London, Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Athens–for the period of the late 1960s to 1981 or so be declassified?

 Answer: Most Post files through 1980 have been accessioned to NARA.  These files are in the NDC back log and will be processed for declassification by the 2013 deadline.  We recognize that Post files are among some of the most requested by historians.  They are also some of the more complex to process for declassification because many different agencies have potential interest (equity) in them.  We are working with multiple agencies to resolve these multi-equity issues.  Remember that “processed” does not mean that everything is released.  It does mean that declassified records can be made available and that still classified records are properly exempted.  It does NOT imply that all preservation work or finding aids will be completed.