National Declassification Center Issues First Report

Report highlights processing of nearly 8 million pages of material

WASHINGTON, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC) has issued its first status report, covering the reporting period of January 1 – June 30, 2010.  During this time, nearly 8 million pages of material were processed and made available to the public.  The report is online at: www.archives.gov/declassification/reports/.

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The creation of the NDC is specified in the Executive Order on Classified National Security Information signed by President Obama on December 29, 2009.  The NDC is charged with streamlining declassification processes, facilitating quality assurance measures, and implementing standard training for declassification reviewers.  "By streamlining the declassification process, the NDC is ushering in a new day in the world of access, allowing the National Archives to make more records available for public scrutiny much more quickly," said Archivist of the United States David S.  Ferriero. "I'm pleased the NDC is off to such a great start."  

"I believe the declassification review activity embodied in the NDC is a service to both our government and the public," said NDC Director Sheryl J. Shenberger.  "It has become clear to me that all the agencies involved in this effort want to make the NDC a success story."

NDC status reports will be issued biannually in July and January, and will cover the preceding six months, focusing on events and activities, interagency cooperation, and NDC's progress on the records processing backlog.  

In its first six months, the NDC:  

• Created a website to provide timely information and a blog to encourage and facilitate public comment.  Both are available at http://archives.gov/declassification;
• Held an Open Forum June 23 at the National Archives Washington, DC, hosted by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, to discuss the NDC's draft prioritization plan;
• Held a three-day equity recognition training program May 25 - 27 to instruct reviewers on equities in the NARA backlog. Over 240 review personnel from 26 agencies attended, and 15 agencies presented equity briefings;
• Completed preservation actions on all Federal classified special media records with a review deadline of 2011.  These records are now in a format that can be reviewed by the equity-holding agencies;
• Established a classified special media lab to support Agency reviews of their classified equities in multiple special media formats;
• Prioritized certain records collections within the Presidential Libraries for review.  Another example of records that have been "fast tracked" are China-related materials within the Kissinger Personal Paper Collection;
• Improved the system so that all declassification processing occurs prior to archival processing to avoid delays in making declassified records available to researchers.

NDC goals include:

• Finding a new IT system design to support improved NDC processes, improved data collection, and integration.  This system would also track records from accessioning to their final availability to the public, in order to facilitate referral review for declassification and release;
• Developing new and more efficient processes for interagency declassification review and processing of special media and electronic records; and
• Crafting better work processes for Freedom of Information Act/ Mandatory Declassification Reviews for classified Federal records to provide for more timely responses to public requests.  

Public input, questions and comments are welcome, and can be sent to [email protected] . Information on upcoming forums and NDC initiatives may be found at http://www.archives.gov/declassification.

SOURCE National Archives