National Archives and Records Administration
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration is the agency responsible for the management of the small percentage of government records held for legal or historical reasons.
U.S. Spy Agencies Disappear History
"In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years." Since 1999, more than 50,000 once-declassified pages have been reclassified as secret. Intelligence historian Matthew Aid said some of the decades-old documents are "mundane, and some of it is outright ridiculous." The New York Times reports, "While some of the choices made by the security reviewers ... are baffling, others seem ... to cover up embarrassments, even if they occurred a half-century ago." The program, which has cost millions, is "shrouded in secrecy -- governed by a still-classified memorandum." An anonymous source told the Times that "the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency were major participants." Though there has been "a marked trend toward greater secrecy under the Bush administration," the reclassification program is reportedly driven by federal spy agencies. A coalition of historians has expressed concern about the program. [1]
Contact details
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road,
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272
Web: http://www.archives.gov/
External links
- Scott Shane, "Archivist Urges U.S. to Reopen Classified Files," New York Times, March 3, 2006.
- Scott Shane, "U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review", New York Times, February 21, 2006.
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