| Description |
President Obama established the National Declassification Center (NDC) in late December 2009 by Executive Order (E.O.) 13526,
Classified National Security Information. Under the direction of the Archivist of the United States, the NDC coordinates the
processing of referrals of twenty-five-year-old and older classified records of permanent historical value. In an accompanying
Presidential Memorandum, the President specified that referrals and quality assurance problems for the 400 million pages of
accessioned Federal records previously subject to automatic declassification should be addressed in a manner that will permit
public access to all declassified records from this backlog no later than December 31, 2013. Over the past year, the NDC has
led a multi-agency effort to declassify historically valuable classified records and has done so transparently and with significant
public input. Within the constraints of the NDC's current mandate, which preserves review by multiple equity-holding agencies,
and the constraints imposed by the Kyl-Lott Amendment, which requires additional procedural attention and effort to prevent
release of atomic energy related information, the NDC has made impressive strides toward reducing the massive backlog it faced
when it began its task. At the end of 2012, the NDC had completed its assessment of the backlog: all records within the backlog
had been analyzed and placed in the proper queue for final quality review and processing. As of February 16, 2013, 237 million
pages of the 359 million pages assessed in the backlog had completed final quality review for national security information,
and 104 million of those pages had completed all processes. NDC is on track to potentially address quality review in the remaining
backlog pages by the end of calendar year 2013, though the final processing stage will be outstanding. The NDC is implementing
standardized training in order to improve future review quality and records handling. The curriculum, though still in development,
will consist of web-based and instructor-led course modules with a goal of educating cleared declassification reviewers, records
managers, access and security professionals on the historical background to declassification requirements and the executive
orders, proper document handling, general agency responsibilities, and equity identification. In an effort to eliminate future
backlogs, the NDC is adding an evaluation cycle for the non-backlog records, as well as piloting a re-review for records previously
withheld for national security concerns but that may not currently meet the requirements for exemption under fifty-year-automatic
declassification. The Administration has solicited and welcomed public input in its declassification efforts. NDC has held
a yearly public interactive forum, issued semi-annual public status reports, had center staff blog discussions and web postings
of historical records within NARA holdings, and solicited public input into prioritization within the backlog records. The
NDC's website diagrams and details its declassification process. The NDC and Information Security Oversight Office are in
frequent communication with open government advocates, and leadership in those institutions regularly meet to discuss progress
on Plan commitments, as well as independent recommendations from civil society representatives. Although the Administration
has made significant progress in the past year, substantial challenges remain to the Administration's efforts, such as the
page-by-page review process imposed by the Kyl-Lott Amendment and the required review for declassification by multiple equity-holding
agencies, not to mention the longterm issues posed by ever-growing volumes of materials for review. Although the NDC has instituted
expedited approaches and rearranged staffing where possible, the substantial number of backlogged records requiring review
for Kyl-Lott continues to impact any prioritization plan the NDC might have implemented for processing collections based on
a requester's interest and demand. The Administration is looking for ways to address these issues, and expects to continue
engagement with civil society about their recommendations. The Administration is also reviewing the recent report by the Public
Interest Declassification Board, which provides its recommendations on a fundamental transformation of the security classification
system - recommendations the President asked for in his 2009 Memorandum.
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This multi-agency effort will work to declassify historically valuable classified records in which more than one agency has
an interest, and work to address the backlog of 400 million pages previously accessioned to the National Archives. The Center
will also oversee the development of standard declassification processes and training to improve and align declassification
reviews across agencies. The Center will consider public input when developing its prioritization plan, as well as report
on its progress, provide opportunities for public comment in a variety of media, and host at least one public forum to update
the public and answer questions.
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