[Intelforum] Secrecy News -- 01/30/12

Mon Jan 30 12:06:08 EST 2012

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 7
January 30, 2012

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

**     AGENCIES ARE LIKELY TO MISS 2013 DECLASSIFICATION DEADLINE
**     U.S. INVESTMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND MORE FROM CRS

AGENCIES ARE LIKELY TO MISS 2013 DECLASSIFICATION DEADLINE

More than two years ago, President Obama set a December 31, 2013 deadline
for completing the declassification processing of a backlog of more than
400 million pages of classified historical records that were over 25 years
old.  But judging from the limited progress to date, it now seems highly
unlikely that the President's directive will be fulfilled.

As of December 2011, following two years of operation, the National
Declassification Center had completed the processing of only 26.6 million
pages of the 400 million page backlog, according to the latest NDC
semi-annual report.  If the Center increased productivity by a factor of
ten, that would still be insufficient to achieve its goal.

The looming failure to comply with an explicit presidential order is a
sign of the growing autonomy of the secrecy system, which to a surprising
extent is literally out of control.

One of the obstacles to a more efficient declassification process is a
1999 statute known as the "Kyl-Lott" Amendment, which requires record
collections to be certified as "highly unlikely" to contain classified
nuclear weapons information known as Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted
Data.  In many cases, today's backlogged records were not certified as
required by the originating agencies and therefore they must now undergo an
additional review.

"This unexpected review step will certainly impact our ability to complete
all declassification processing by the deadline," according to the new
semi-annual report from the National Declassification Center.

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/ndc-123111.pdf

The need for interagency cooperation to deal with the backlog of
historical records awaiting declassification was anticipated by President
Obama.  "The Secretaries of State, Defense, and Energy, and the Director of
National Intelligence shall provide the Archivist of the United States with
sufficient guidance to complete this task," he wrote in a December 29, 2009
memo.

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/obama/wh122909.html

And in fact, agencies have devoted increased efforts to declassification. 
"Once the enormity of the Kyl-Lott challenge was realized, many
participating agencies have stepped up to ensure that their records meet
this requirement," according to NDC Director Sheryl J. Shenberger.

	http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-57.html

But under current procedures, it is hard to see any trajectory that will
lead to elimination of the declassification backlog by December 2013.

One alternative way to proceed would be for the National Archives to seek
legislative relief from the certification requirements of the Kyl-Lott
Amendment, particularly with respect to so-called Formerly Restricted Data
(FRD).  Most of the historical nuclear weapons information in the FRD
category is of no special sensitivity and its presence should no longer
pose an obstacle to expedited declassification.  In those cases where the
information is sensitive, such as weapons design information, the
Department of Energy is currently seeking authority to remove it from the
FRD category and to redesignate it as Restricted Data.  This would further
strengthen the case for amending Kyl-Lott to eliminate screening for FRD,
thereby simplifying the declassification problem.

U.S. INVESTMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND MORE FROM CRS

The possibility of increasing U.S. investment in the Middle East as a way
to encourage democratic political transitions was examined in a new report
from the Congressional Research Service.  See "U.S. Trade and Investment in
the Middle East and North Africa: Overview and Issues," January 20, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42153.pdf

Other new or updated CRS reports that have not been made readily available
to the public include these:

"Australia: Background and U.S. Relations," January 13, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33010.pdf

"European Union Enlargement," January 26, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21344.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood