NARA’s declassification audit
*This is an update to the original story posted on FGI.* On April 26, U.S. Archivist Allen Weinstein and Information Oversight Office Director J. William Leonard released the results of their audit into the secret reclassification of 55,000+ previously declassified pages of public records (there are various numbers floating around out there and it's unclear whether the archivist is counting *pages* of records, or complete records). Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs reacted by stating,
"We are stunned to learn that this program is even larger than we were previously told. For the last two months we thought only 9,500 records were reclassified. In fact more than twice that number were reclassified, and we now know that re-reviews happened at Presidential libraries as well as at NARA and that between 24 and 36 percent of those should not have been reclassified." Commenting on the specific findings, Fuchs noted, "This report confirms our fears that some Executive Branch agencies are willing to pour taxpayer dollars into efforts to control all information for all time without considering whether it is necessary or even feasible. Not only did this surreptitious reclassification program draw attention to information that otherwise would likely have remained obscure, but it did so at tremendous cost. I can't imagine that we are any safer today than we would be if this reclassification program had never taken place."Read more from the National Security Archive Continue reading
Is USGS Seamless website down?
Is USGS Seamless website down? The USGS Seamless website (Seamless Data Distribution System, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)), which has provided high-resolution satellite imagery of several dozen US cities without restriction and which has always been publicly accessible, now has a message on the homepage that says "The system is currently experiencing an interruption of service. All Seamless servers and services will be unavailable until further notice." Links are still active on the home page, though, and some still work and link to other servers. It is unclear what is online and what is not available. Cryptome (29 April 2006) wonders if we are about to lose access...
Seamless began to go insane about a week ago, at times freezing, or delivering a variety of messages, and at one point requiring a password for access. Here's hoping Seamless has not been targeted for public closing by the secrecy-obsessed.Continue reading
Unclassified articles no longer available on web — print only
A series of reports recently have noted an apparent change in policy that makes articles in the government publication Studies in Intelligence, published by the Central Intelligence Agency's Center for the Study of Intelligence available only in print. Articles freely available in the printed version of the journal have not been posted on the web site of the journal.
In Excessive secrecy hurting CIA studies, Shaun Waterman reports "Web publication of 'Studies in Intelligence' itself appears to have ceased as well, at least for the time being -- no articles from the last three issues of the journal are on the agency's Web site, although hard copies are available from the U.S. Government Printing Office." (Washington Times, Apr. 27, 2006)
Steven Aftergood reports that "the editor of the somewhat respected CIA journal Studies in Intelligence has resigned, and so has the chairman of its Editorial Board." (CIA Expands Operational File Secrecy, Secrecy News, April 19, 2006.)
And Max Holland, in a substantial article on the state of the intelligence community, goes into more detail (Lessons Not Learned, Washington Spectator, April 15, 2006.
The problem erupted in the fall of 2005, when Studies published an excerpt from a post-mortem on the intelligence community's failure to assess accurately Iraq's WMD capabilities. Seven months later, the offending issue still has not been posted on-line, even though unclassified articles in Studies are normally put up within weeks of publication.Continue reading
The passing of public intellectuals: Jane Jacobs and John Kenneth Galbraith
This has been a week of passing of two of the 20th century's greatest public intellectuals. On Tuesday, April 25, Jane Jacobs passed at the age of 89. She wrote the seminal book on urban studies called "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." As the NY Times obituary said:
Her critique of the nation's cities is often grouped with the work of writers who in the 1960's shook the foundations of American society: Paul Goodman's attack on schooling; Michael Harrington's stark portrait of poverty; Ralph Nader's barrage against the auto industry; and Malcolm X's grim tour of America's racial divide, among others. And it continues to influence a third generation of students.Then on Saturday, April 29, John Kenneth Galbraith passed at the age of 97. (log in may be required) Galbraith, a liberal economist and diplomat, was an advisor to presidents from the 1930's through the 1990's and served as JFK's ambassador to India. He wrote 33 books, including, "The Affluent Society" (1958) and updated/bookended it in 1996 with "The Good Society." These two thoughtful intellectuals will be sorely missed. Continue reading
GovTrack.us and OpenSecrets up for a Webby Award
Put this in the "slightly off-topic" category ;-) But seeing as I just posted about remixes, GovTrack.us and Open Secrets are both up for Webby Awards in the politics category. Go to the Webby Awards website to vote for your favorite Web sites in various categories. Deadline is May 5. Other sites of interest to librarians: Library of Congress is nominated in both the education and cultural isntitutions categories; FindLaw in the law category; NASA's Ozone Watch in the science category; and many more! Continue reading