Document Friday: The Cold War’s “Major Enemy Threat Facing the US” is Classified
According to Department of Defense reviewers, the “major enemy threat facing the United States” in 1975 must remain classified information. We can know that, “This situation had been prevalent for a...
View ArticleDocument Friday: Requester’s Own FOIA Request Letter Redacted
Here on “Unredacted” we often write about over-classification, and give pretty heinous examples of over-classification. Here is another one that might take top prize: On December 13, 2010, I sent a...
View ArticleCIA’s Overclassification Practices Declassified
The Reducing Over-Classification Act of 2010, a byproduct of the 9/11 Commission Report‘s finding that overclassification and lack of intelligence sharing led, in part, to the 2001 terrorist attacks,...
View ArticleDirector of National Intelligence General Counsel: “Not Can We Classify –But...
Director of National Intelligence General Counsel Robert S. Litt made some huge Sunshine Week FOIA news yesterday when he announced that classifiers and declassifiers must now ask: “not can we...
View ArticleThe Menace of Overclassification
This article was originally posted on the official Sunshine Week website, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Bloomberg, The Gridiron Club and Foundation American Society of News...
View ArticleFOIA Ombuds Office Remains Director-less, Why Transparency (Obviously) Isn’t...
The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) – the seven-person federal FOIA ombuds office tasked with monitoring government-wide FOIA compliance and policy – still has not hired a new...
View ArticleIG’s Want to Open Security Referral into State Department’s Handling of...
The inspectors general for the State Department and the intelligence community have asked the Department of Justice to open a security referral to determine if the Department of State inadvertently...
View Article“America classifies way too much information – and we are all less safe for it”
This op-ed originally appeared in The Washington Post. Warning: If you hold a security clearance, reading this column could expose you to information that potentially violates your security agreement....
View ArticleThe Real Legacy of Clinton’s Personal Email: Outdated Government-wide Email...
Hillary Clinton’s sole use of personal email to conduct official business as secretary of state has been the subject of oftentimes-intense debate on the campaign trail. Reports have paid particular...
View ArticleNational Security Archive Director Tom Blanton Testifies Today on “Arbitrary...
This morning the Archive’s Executive Director, Tom Blanton, is testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for its hearing on “Examining the Costs of Over-classification on...
View ArticleDNI Haines Reiterates that Overclassification is a National Security Threat...
Director of National Intelligence Reiterates Overclassification a National Security Concern at Worldwide Threats Hearing The Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, and the Director of the...
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