Source: Washington Post
The National Archives will no longer enter into secret agreements to withdraw records from public access that federal agencies want scrubbed for security reasons.
For one, these are documents now in the public domain that have been copied by historians and researchers several times over. These are also archives and documents paid for by American tax dollars.
The National Archives will no longer enter into secret agreements with federal agencies that want to withdraw records from public access on Archives shelves and will do more to disclose when documents are removed for national security reasons.
The new policy cannot guarantee full disclosure, however, because in some cases federal regulations limit the Archives' ability to reveal which agency is reviewing records and why, said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Archives.
"What we're striving for is transparency here on our part," Cooper said. "We can't control the agencies."
I also agree with Mr. Banton that for the archives to deliberately mislead the public and researchers by entering into this secrecy program is very over the top, very dubious, and a sign of the slippery slope we are now all on in regards to the public's right to know what our government is doing or has done.
Nevertheless, the Archives' decision to shun secret agreements is a step forward, said Thomas S. Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research library in Washington. "For the National Archives to go into cahoots with the CIA and Air Force to mislead researchers about what was going on was over the top, and a strong signal of a secrecy system that is genuinely broken," he said.
A note from the "Support the Archives" page:
Every American has a personal stake in ensuring that the National Archives Experience can tell the stories of the American journey to young and old, scholars and students, cynics and dreamers. With the National Archives Experience, we can instill in new immigrants a sense of national pride. We can help families see their stories as they fit into our astounding national mosaic. We can reawaken in citizens a yearning for the truth. We can thrill and surprise young people with the real-life drama of the American experience.
Today, you have an opportunity to believe and invest in something that is greater than us all. The Foundation for the National Archives asks you to generously support the National Archives Experience. You can be a part of helping millions of others learn what you know and love about the greatness of America. A wall of honor in the National Archives Building will bear the names of those who understand, those who choose to endow and perpetuate one nation, with liberty, and justice, for all.
Which experience would a potential "big money" donor be supporting?
A thorough, events-based recollection of events or one carefully screened and sanctioned by our federal government agencies concerned with squashing the truth?
I hope donors will "see the light" and withhold donations until the new culture of censorship, corruption, and cronyism ends at the National Archives.
Till it does, you're spending your donations more for a well-toiled government propaganda machine than a decent archive of our true history and most important national documents.
This pledge is just what is says--a promise that may never be completed. Nothing official about it; just a way to placate those who smell something rotten about the Bush theocracy re-classifying documents not tied to national security.
Let's not forget that he who runs the archives is more like a Bush appointee, so this is cleverly-worded window dressing and nothing more.
Tags: [national archives], [support the archives by stopping donations until they retreat from the government-based secrecy program they were entered into], [archives promises to end secret agreements with government agencies], [archives had been re-classifying documents for Bush and CIA even though millions of people had already seen/copied these documents]
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