Withdrawal of previously declassified U.S. federal records

The withdrawal of previously declassified U.S. federal records is a process in which agencies can remove records from public access that they believe were incorrectly declassified and made available to the public at the National Archives and Records Administration. The process is often referred to as "reclassification," but because the records were never properly declassified and remained classified even when made publicly available, they are not re-classified.

History

In 1995, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12958 which directed agencies to declassify all records that were twenty-five years or older by the end of 1999, with certain exemptions for information that remained sensitive. Security concerns over restricted data were heightened in 1999 by the Wen Ho Lee case, in which a Taiwanese American nuclear weapons engineer was accused of selling secrets to the People’s Republic of China. Additionally, the State Department was accused by the Department of Energy of improperly releasing information it was not authorized to declassify.[1] In 1999, declassification efforts slowed considerably with the passage of the Kyl-Lott Amendment to the 1999 Defense Authorization Act which requires that all declassified records be reviewed for restricted data (RD) and formerly restricted data (FRD). The Kyl-Lott Amendment led to the removal of previously declassified records from public access for re-review of restricted data.[2]

During the George W. Bush administration, the signing of Executive Order 13292 in 2003 eased the process of withdrawals and further delayed automatic declassification review. The process was further codified in 2009 by the signing of Executive Order 13526 and 32 C.F.R. Part 2001.13.[3]

The process of removing previously declassified records was itself covert until it was revealed by the National Security Archive in February 2006.[4] Following outcry by journalists, historians, and the public, an internal audit by the National Archive’s Information Security Oversight Office indicated that more than one-third of the records withdrawn since 1999, did not contain sensitive information.[5][6][7] In response, the National Archives has made annual reports of records withdrawn from public access.[8]

Withdrawals of Previously Declassified Records since 2006
Fiscal YearAgencyNARA facilityDate withdrawnNumber of records withdrawnNumber of textual pages withdrawn
2006[9]NSC/NSA/StateLBJ Library and MuseumMay 200612
2006CIALBJ Library and MuseumMay 200612
2006CIAJimmy Carter Library and MuseumSep 200622
2007[10]Air ForceCollege ParkDec 200611
2007Air ForceCollege ParkJan 200711
2007DOECollege ParkFeb 200717
2008[11]None withdrawn
2009[12]NavyNixon Presidential Library at College ParkFeb 17 20091136
2009NavyCollege ParkJan 15 2009122
2009NavyCollege ParkJan 15 2009114
2010[13]None withdrawn
2011[14]None withdrawn
2012[15]None withdrawn
2013[16]None withdrawn
2014[17]CIACollege ParkFeb 25 201420 (one in full; 19 redacted)81 (65 unique; 16 duplicate)
2015[18]DOE[note 1]College ParkJun 30 2015227
2015DOE[note 1]College ParkJun 30 2015121
2015DOE[note 1]College ParkJun 30 20153136
2015DOE[note 1]College ParkJun 30 20151226
2016[19]DOECollege ParkOct 1 201518968
2017[20]None withdrawn
2018[21]None withdrawn
2019[22]None withdrawn
2020[23]None withdrawn
2021[24]None withdrawn

See also

Notes
  1. Withdrawn per Kyl and Lott Amendments to the 1999 and 2000 Defense Authorization Acts and the Atomic Energy Act, as amended.

    References
    1. "The Secret Reclassification Program", Organization of American Historians
    2. David, James (2013). "Can We Finally See Those Records? An Update on the Automatic/Systematic Declassification Review Program". The American Archivist. 76 (2): 415–437. doi:10.17723/aarc.76.2.kr5mr37k15m12110. ISSN 0360-9081. JSTOR 43490361.
    3. "32 CFR § 2001.13 - Classification prohibitions and limitations". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
    4. "Declassification in Reverse", National security Archive, George Washington University
    5. "Audit of the Withdrawal of Records from Public Access at the National Archives and Records Administration for Classification Purposes". National Archives and Records Administration. April 26, 2006.
    6. Scott Shane (February 21, 2006). "U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review". The New York Times.
    7. Scott Shane (April 27, 2006). "National Archives Says Records Were Wrongly Classified". The New York Times.
    8. "Quarterly Report of Withdrawals of Previously Declassified Records". National Archives and Records Administration. 15 August 2016.
    9. "FY 2006 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    10. "FY 2007 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    11. "FY 2008 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    12. "FY 2009 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    13. "FY 2010 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    14. "FY 2011 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    15. "FY 2012 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    16. "FY 2013 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    17. "FY 2014 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    18. "FY 2015 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    19. "FY 2016 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    20. "FY 2017 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    21. "FY 2018 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    22. "FY 2019 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    23. "FY 2020 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
    24. "FY 2021 Report of Withdrawals" (PDF). National Archives and Records Administration.
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