Archive News Alerts

Check here for press releases and notices about the National Security Archive, plus public announcements about major document declassifications, government policy shifts, court decisions, or congressional legislation.
Court Rejects Wiretapping Secrecy Claims, Orders New Index of Documents and More Detailed Reasons for Withholding
Washington, DC, September 5, 2007 --The United States District Court for the District of Columbia today largely rejected the government’s attempt to withhold without explanation all records…
Court Permits CIA to Withhold Historic President’s Daily Briefs, But Denies Categorical Exemption for PDBs
San Francisco, California, 5 September 2007 - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week held that the disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of two Presidential Daily…
Archive Sues to Recover 5 Million Missing White House E-mails
Washington DC, September 5, 2007 - The National Security Archive today sued the White House seeking the recovery and preservation of more than 5 million White House e-mail messages that were…
Congress Asks Archive to Testify About Overclassification of Records
Washington DC, July 12, 2007 - At a hearing of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, on classification of national security information…
Groups Urge Senate to Enact FOIA Reform on the Law's 41st Birthday
Washington DC, July 3, 2007 - As the 41st birthday of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) approaches, a coalition of groups urged the U.S. Congress to pass a bill - currently locked behind a closed…
Archive and openness advocates urge court scrutiny of government secrecy claims; Amicus brief argues against deference in warrantless wiretapping case
Washington DC, May 3, 2007 - The National Security Archive and several other public interest organizations argued yesterday, in an amicus curiae brief filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, that…
Archive Director Featured on Fox News Sunday As “Power Player of the Week”
Washington DC, April 16, 2007 - Yesterday, Fox News Sunday featured a segment with Chris Wallace interviewing Archive director Tom Blanton. Secret documents featured on the Fox News Sunday show…
Congress Asks Archive General Counsel to Testify on Reducing Pseudo-Secrets
Washington DC, March 22, 2007 - At a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment on "Over-classification and…
Air Force Wins 2007 Rosemary Award for Worst FOIA Performance
Washington D.C., 16 March 2007 - The U.S. Air Force today won the third annual Rosemary Award, which recognizes the worst Freedom of Information Act performance by a federal agency. Given annually by…
Archive Testifies in Support of Senate FOIA Reform Efforts
Washington DC, March 14, 2007 - National Security Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs today testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in support of a FOIA reform bill introduced…
Are we safer...in the dark?
The American ideal of open government has reached critical condition and needs intensive care. We have enough lab results to know the news is bad: *The oldest still-pending Freedom of Information Act…
The Presidential Records Act in Crisis
Washington DC, March 1, 2007 - Since 2001, the government has added five years of delay into the process of releasing presidential records, according to testimony delievered today by Archive…
House Subcommittee Asks Archive for FOIA Reform Advice
Washington DC, February 14, 2007 - National Security Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs today told the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives of the House Committee on…
CIA Proposed Rule on FOIA Fees Would Burden Requesters and the Agency
Washington DC, February 7, 2007 - The CIA's proposed new rule on Freedom of Information Act processing fees is likely to discourage FOIA requesters while imposing new administrative burdens both on…
Attorney General's Report Ignores Serious Problems in Agency FOIA Programs
Washington DC, October 19, 2006 - Today the National Security Archive responded to the "Attorney General's Report to the President Pursuant to Executive Order 13,392, Entitled 'Improving Agency…
VA Takes Nine Months to Locate Data on Disability Claims by Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Washington DC, October 10, 2006 - One in four veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are filing disability claims, according to records released by the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA)…
Kissinger's "Salted Peanuts" and the Iraq War
Washington D.C., October 2, 2006 - For understandable reasons, the George W. Bush administration has shunned comparisons between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War. But in his latest book, State of…
CIA Claims the Right to Decide What is News
Washington D.C., 14 June 2006 - The National Security Archive today filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),…
ISOO Audit Report Exposes Abuse of Classification System
Washington D.C., 26 April 2006 - Today the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) released an audit report of the secret historical document reclassification program conducted at the National…
Secret Understanding Between National Archives and CIA Exposes Framework for Surreptitious Reclassification Program
Washington D.C., 19 April 2006 - Monday, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein released a declassified Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Central Intelligence Agency, signed in…