SecrecyBudget cuts force changes in CIA’s document declassification policy

The CIA two weeks ago confirmed that it was closing its Historical Collections Division office, which declassifies historical documents. Instead, the division’s responsibilities will be transferred to the office that handles Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Edward Price, a CIA spokesman, said that “As a result of sequestration, elements of one program office were moved into a larger unit to create efficiencies, but CIA will continue to perform this important work.”

Washington lawyer Mark Zaid told the Los Angeles Times that “this move is a true loss to the public.” Zaid added that the CIA office that handles FOIA requests “is the most obstructionist and unfriendly of those I have dealt with during the last two decades.”

“This is very unfortunate,” said Robert Jervis, a Columbia University professor who chairs the CIA’s Historical Review Panel. “There will be fewer releases. We shouldn’t fool ourselves.”

MPN reports that Pro-government transparency advocates have praised recent declassifications of CIA documents. On 16 August the CIA released to George Washington University a report which, for the first time, disclosed the existence of Area 51, the use of British pilots in the U-2  program of surveillance of the Soviet Union, the establishment of the unmanned drone program in 1954, and that the Indian government consented to allow the CIA to use its air bases for refueling the CIA’s U-2 spy planes to target Chinese territories in the 1962 war. On 19 August the CIA released to George Washington researchers a declassified document admitting the U.S. involvement in the overthrow of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953 in order to help England maintain its monopoly over Iran’s oil industry.

It is disclosures like these that help Americans understand the history and policies of the government, And help dispel the notion of a secretive government keeping the American people in the dark. Executive Order 13526, Classified National Security Information, as amended by President Barack Obama, lays the guideline for the classification and declassification of national intelligence. The order’s preamble states:

[O]ur Nation’s progress depends on the free flow of information both within the Government and to the American people.  Nevertheless, throughout our history, the national defense has required that certain information be maintained in confidence in order to protect our citizens, our democratic institutions, our homeland security, and our interactions with foreign nations.  Protecting information critical to our Nation’s security and demonstrating our commitment to open Government through accurate and accountable application of classification standards and routine, secure, and effective declassification are equally important priorities.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before the Senate Armed Service Committee on the effect of sequestration cuts, saying that “Sequestration forces the intelligence community to reduce all intelligence activities and functions without regard to impact on our mission. Unlike more directly observable sequestration impacts like shorter hours at the parks or longer security lines at airports,” he said, “the degradation to intelligence will be insidious. It will be gradual and almost invisible until, of course, we have an intelligence failure.”