Forty-four years ago on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN. Despite appeals for peace, race riots erupted in major cities across the country. As a result, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a series of   Executive Orders and instructions for the deployment of military forces to control the civil disorder and restore law and order in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, and Washington, D.C.

Letter to Major General Thomas G. Wells, Jr. Commanding General, 30th Armored Division page 1

Letter to Major General Thomas G. Wells, Jr. Commanding General, 30th Armored Division page 2

Letter to Major General Thomas G. Wells, Jr. Commanding General, 30th Armored Division page 3

Letter to Major General Thomas G. Wells, Jr. Commanding General, 30th Armored Division page 4

By Ms. Jenny Namsiriwan Crabb

The National Archives has numerous gems in its collection.  We are discovering more of them as we continue our work in the National Declassification Center.  I discovered one such gem as I was working with a project regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis in February 2012.  The collection in its entirety was intriguing but there were several topics that really struck me.  One of them was reading the actual correspondence between President Kennedy, Khrushchev, Thant and Castro.  It was interesting to see the way that they addressed each other and the language that they used.  It also provided military plans, maps and aerial photographs dealing with such issues as rules of engagement, blockades, Cuban launch sites and the quarantine of Cuba.  The collection revealed how far reaching the Cuban Missile Crisis was because it contained information that related the crisis in Berlin, Germany  There was also a folder on Havana’s International Broadcasting that contained samples of radio propaganda that aimed at inciting countries in Latin America to revolt.  Along those lines there was also information regarding the Brazilian Resolution that showed that the U.S. was concerned with other Latin American and African countries receiving nuclear weapons.  One final topic that was covered briefly was Cuban volunteers in the U.S. Armed Forces and also the Cuban military.  There was a folder regarding how they were recruited, trained and utilized in the U.S. as well as in Cuba.  This collection contains important information regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Countless topics could be gleaned and researched by historians, students and anyone else with an interest in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

23 October 1962, MRBM Launch Site 2, Sagua La Grande, Cuba

Letter Dated March 22, 1962, Goodwin to Nitze.

Text of Letter from President Kennedy to Premier Khruschev, Dated 25 October 1962, page 1

Text of Letter from President Kennedy to Premier Khruschev, Dated 25 October 1962, page 2

Cuba and Berlin, 19 October 1962

  Several people have noted that the blog post announcing the December-March new openings cut off some of the information.  Below is a link to the complete spreadsheet.

The NDC released a listing of 190 separate entries http://www.archives.gov/declassification/ndc/reports/released-entries-03-12.xls  that have completed declassification processing between December 20, 2011 and March 12, 2012 and are now available for researcher request.

On Friday, 9 March, I was joined by Director/ISOO John Fitzpatrick and Agency Services Executive Jay Bosanko in a meeting with representatives from OMB and several public interest groups. Although we all discussed several items of interest related to reducing classification and expanding governmental transparency, the majority of our discussion was a give-and-take focused on the NDC and the status of the nearly 400M pages of backlog records addressed in the Presidential Memorandum that accompanied EO 13526 in late December 2009. In measuring progress against the 31 December 2013 deadline, I emphasized (quite enthusiastically) that all the backlog records would be assessed, and that many would be deemed ready for final archival processing (that is, segregation of the small portion of still classified (exempted) records from the declassified) in order to provide the declassified/unclassified records to the public.

However, I stressed the concern I described in the January 2012 NDC Report: that approximately 161 million pages have potential Restricted Data/Formerly Restricted Data (RD/FRD) sensitivities, either requiring documentation of a previously conducted review in accordance with Kyl-Lott, a certification of highly unlikely to contain RD/FRD, or the page-level review required to identify RD/FRD. This page-level review requirement should have been done previously by the primary reviewing agency, but either was not done or was done inconsistently. The group agreed that this unforeseen high number of problem pages will certainly affect the ability of the NDC to meet with complete success with backlog retirement.

Regardless of this challenge, the NDC is meeting with success. Here are several high points to NDC progress:

In just over two years of operations, the NDC has assessed 329 million pages of the 384-million-page backlog and completed referral quality assurance for more than 40% of the backlog. NDC has completely processed 34.4 million pages of previously classified records and released to the public 29 million of those pages for an 84% release rate.

The NDC developed and then fine tuned numerous processes to facilitate increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our internal declassification processing and in support of the retirement of the backlog, all in keeping with the center motto of “Releasing All We Can, Protecting What We Must.” In the final processing step, for example, NDC’s streamlined processes and data capture efforts have had dramatic results: pre-NDC stand up, less than 300,000 pages were being finalized each month; today, nearly four million pages are being finalized monthly.

The NDC is having corresponding success in MDR and FOIA case handling, doubling the 2010 case closure rate in 2011. There are early indicators that 2012 could nearly double the increased 2011 closure rate.

To address the RD/FRD review challenge, the NDC instituted a collaborative approach where, for the first time, inter-agency teams conduct page-level reviews of other agencies’ records that lack the mandated review for this type of information.

Although the NDC must take a “factory” approach in order to provide the most records in the shortest amount of time, we do try to address certain special collections of special researcher interest or historic significance. During 2011, that included the first authorized release of the full “Pentagon Papers” and a collection of historical records related to the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 2012, special collection processing efforts include previously classified documents on the Katyn Atrocities, POW/MIA records not previously processed, and records related to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The NDC released a listing of 190 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, Marine Corps, Air Force, and United States Information Agency.  The entire list is posted below and .

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

The National Archives invites you to participate in the Open Government Idea Forum at http://naraopengov.ideascale.com/. This important dialogue will help provide new ideas and direction to the revision of the National Archives’ Open Government Plan.

Whether you’re an archivist, historian, genealogist, National Archives researcher, citizen concerned with records management, policy expert in declassification, or advocate for freedom of information, we need your input and ideas for how we should improve transparency, participation, and collaboration at the National Archives.

The Open Government Forum will run through March 21, 2012.  I encourage readers of the NDC Blog to share their ideas on this forum.

On February 1, 2012, the National Declassification Center (NDC) began a new tradition by awarding the first Jeanne Schauble Memorial award to Mr. Ed Cachine for outstanding contributions to the NDC and declassification community.  The award was created to honor the memory of Jeanne Schauble, long-time Director of the Initial Processing and Declassification Division and first Deputy Director of the National Declassification Center.  Jeanne was a pioneer in declassification review and release as well as an early advocate of inter-agency collaboration and cooperation.  In many ways, the establishment of the NDC fulfilled her vision. 

NDC staff members were asked to nominate a peer who over the course of the previous year made an outstanding contribution to the NDC by facilitating openness, streamlining declassification processes, making work more efficient, enhancing quality, serving customers, or strengthening collaboration between agencies.  Several fine nominations were received, but it was Ed that stood out.  For many years, Ed served as the monitor for controlling the movement of records into and out of classified stacks.  He taught new staff members and reminded veteran ones of the proper procedures to be followed to ensure accountability of our archival holdings.  He continues to be the “go-to” person for locating missing records and has earned the thanks of NARA and agency staff.  In 2011, Ed took his expertise on the road by serving as the NARA liaison to the Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Referral Center (JRC).  This is an off-site facility where archival records from DoD agencies are taken to be reviewed.  He not only ensures that the archival integrity of the records is protected, but has become a valued member of the team.

 In recognizing Ed’s dedication and commitment to the mission, Executive for Agency Services, Jay Bosanko remarked, “the work of the NDC is incredibly important – noble really- and it deserves our very best – we need to stay the course and do what is right, even in the face of immense pressure to deviate.  Ed knows the importance of this and serves as an example for all of us!”  Others, including Ed’s supervisor, AJ Daverede and Director of the JRC, Melissa Walker echoed Jay’s sentiment.  Finally, Ed shared with all assembled one of the secrets of his success, with this quote from Booker T. Washington: “there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”  You can see this axiom lived daily in watching Ed work to fulfill the NDC’s promise of releasing all we can and protecting what we must.

Ed Cachine Receiving the Inaugural Jeanne Schauble Memorial Award

Recently, there has been some discussion and confusion about steps the National Declassification Center (NDC) is taking to meet the Presidents goal to permit public access to all declassified records from this backlog no later than December 31, 2013.  The Fourth Bi-annual Report indicates that of the approximately 400 million pages believed to be in the back log as of 31 December 2009, only 26.6 million pages have completed all processing and that 120.6 million pages have completed quality assurance processing, including review for Kyl-Lott.  I hope that the explanation below will provide insight into how the NDC got to where it is and the challenges that still face us.

Before the establishment of the NDC, the National Archives was faced with the daunting task of processing records that had been reviewed over the fifteen or so years under E.O. 12958.  This executive order was important because for the first time agencies had to take positive action to keep information classified.  For many agencies, this meant establishing a declassification program with an initial focus on making sure that their information was properly protected.  As programs evolved, so did training for recognizing other agencies’ sensitivities.  The Department of Energy and Congress also became concerned that restricted data and formerly restricted data (RD/FRD) were not being properly identified and protected.  This information is classified by statute and excluded from the automatic declassification provisions of the current and previous executive orders.  The results of this “review or declassification or processing evolution” were uneven reviews, missed equities, over and under referral, and the inadvertent release of still-classified information, all of which led to a “Ferris wheel of re-review” where few records ever finished the ride.

RIDING THE FERRIS WHEEL AT THE STATE FAIR, 10/1972

 This began to change following the establishment of the NDC.  The assessment or evaluation process is a quality assurance sample (not re-review) or triage to assess what has already happened to the records and assign the records series to the next stage on the road to completion.  This process involves inter-agency teams who examine the review history and sample records in series that have been reviewed.  This step is key as those records series that pass this step, have the cycle of re-review stopped and are sent for final indexing of the still-classified material and the release of the remainder.  As noted in the report, 120 million pages had crossed this critical milestone as of December 31, 2011. 

 But what of the 154 million pages that have been assessed, but did not pass this stage?  Some series only need to have their Kyl-Lott status verified.  Other series need to have a Kyl-Lott review completed or a certification that the records are highly unlikely to contain RD/FRD.  They do not require both; that means a record series is either certified as highly unlikely (this may involve sampling, reviewing documentation, such as folder lists, etc) or it is page-by-page reviewed one time by a trained reviewer.   Some have suggested that this is an unnecessary and time-consuming step.  I agree this is time consuming, and the failure of some agencies to have completed this review or kept accurate records about their reviews is creating a bottle neck; however, it is required by Public Laws 105-261 and 106-65 respectively and is necessary.

There are also a small number of series where the inter-agency team has found missed equity.  Using the President’s December 29, 2009 memorandum as guidance, only missed equity relating to  the identity of a confidential human source or a human intelligence source; or  key design concepts of weapons of mass destruction are considered for referral.  These records will get more detailed sampling or review that will serve as a final review before sending to indexing.

I hope that this clarifies what is happening to the records in the back log.  It may not always be as smooth or as straightforward as we would like.  Challenges, such as ensuring proper review under the Kyl and Lott Amendments will remain.  Additionally, “declassified” may not mean that enhanced archival and preservation processing has been completed or that finding aids may not be available.  I am confident that our process leads to ending the cycle of re-review, however, and results in the NDC releasing all we can, while protecting what we must.

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