Score one for the good guys. In a shockingly sane move, the Bush Administration — widely considered to be the most secretive in recent history — is going to let hundreds of millions of once-classified documents enter into the public sphere.
Secret documents 25 years old or older will lose their classified status without so much as the stroke of a pen, unless agencies have sought exemptions on the ground that the material remains secret…And every year from now on, millions of additional documents will be automatically declassified as they reach the 25-year limit, reversing the traditional practice of releasing just what scholars request…
Gearing up to review aging records to meet the deadline, agencies have declassified more than one billion pages, shedding light on the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War and the network of Soviet agents in the American government.
Earlier this year, the Administration was scrambling to make secret again already declassified papers, like the CIA’s 1948 plan to drop leaflets behind the Iron Curtain. Good for them for having the sense to switch course.
This is a Good Thing ™, of course, but… “The Good Guys”? I can’t keep track anymore. Who are the Good Guys?
- ferg
Can’t say who the good guys are for sure, but I’m sure the billions of pages of secret documents will tell us.
Am I the only one to be a bit worried by this move? I’m not a fan of being overly secretive but are there any plans or policies that might go under the radar of oversight which, when released would damage relations with other countries? For instance, if we had a plan or if a president had a conversation about invading Canada, or Cuba, or Mexico? (as a hypothetical).
This is a particularly sensitive time for US Foreign Policy, and releasing documents (however old and comical they are to us) may be seen as an affront to others. Agencies don’t have the manpower or the money to do a full audit of their documents. I have a feeling this political move (though a boon for our community) may have unintended consequences.
Knowing the Bush administration’s penchant for poor policy implementation, I bet they will release a bunch of heavily redacted, ancient and mostly inocuous documents. I’d be surprised if the total number of words released by this move totals 25 million.
Worry not, over much…. My time dealing with the fed and mil both has never had them releasing information that ever hurt anything or anyone except on purpose, like the leak to the press about the CIA operative awhile back…. I wonder who she P O’d that they would want to release her from employment in such a fashion…. Most information releases are calculated to attract interest by parties known only to the releasers…. The Spy game continues….
It’s too bad we can’t get the FULL transcript logs of Saddam and his top cronies, as well as the interrogation logs of the HUNDREDS of Baathists caught working with al Qaeda post invasion (http://regimeofterror.com/archives/2006/05/former_baathists_found_working/)
Maybe we “only” have to wait 22 more years though.
man what is this … the freedom of information act ? before something is automatically declassified by computer automation ; the info should check out before release into the world public domain.