CONGRESSIONAL HEARING HELD ON DOCUMENT WITHDRAWALS

Academe, May/Jun 2006 by Bradley, Gwendolyn

A congressional committee held a hearing in March to investigate the reclassification by federal intelligence agencies of thousands of previously declassified historical documents from the National Archives. About 9,500 records totaling more than 55,000 pages have been withdrawn from the public shelves and reclassified since 1999, according to the National Archives. Many had already been viewed, copied, or republished.

"This absurd effort to put the toothpaste back into the tube persists despite the growing consensus . . . that from 50 to 90 percent of the material currently withheld should not be classified at all," said representative Christopher Shays, chair of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and lnternational Relations, at the hearing. He said that the withdrawals were part of a larger problem of the government's keeping secrets when there is no valid reason for doing so.

The withdrawals came to light when historians and other researchers discovered that documents were disappearing and complained to the National Archives. In response, archivist Allen Weinstein announced a moratorium on reclassifications.-G.B.