Interesting story by Scott Shane in the New York Times today (Feb. 21, 2006),
"U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review."
This story is probably of greatest interest to historians and archivists but
I'm posting it here as "somewhat OT" for RIM since some of you have history
and archives training and/or interests
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/politics/21reclassify.html?ei=5094&
en=aefb4d8fc1e315bc&hp=&ex=1140584400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all
or
http://shrinkster.com/c9h
[began extract]
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — 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historical documents that were available for years, including some already
published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private
historians.
. , , ,After . . . historians complained, the archives' Information Security
Oversight Office, which oversees government classification, began an audit of
the reclassification program, said J. William Leonard, director of the
office. Mr. Leonard said he ordered the audit after reviewing 16 withdrawn documents
and concluding that none should be secret."If those sample records were
removed because somebody thought they were classified, I'm shocked and
disappointed," Mr. Leonard said in an interview. "It just boggles the mind."
[end extract]
Maarja's note: Bill Leonard came to NARA from the Department of Defense and
has a good rep. To read his bio, see
http://www.archives.gov/isoo/about/director.html
Some of his testimony statements, speeches and articles are available
online. I especially recommend one from June 2004, "The Importance of Basics," at:
http://www.archives.gov/isoo/speeches-and-articles/ncms-2004.html
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
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