National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the seventh floor of the Gelman Library building at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US foreign policy. The Archive collects and analyzes the documents of many various government institutions obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive then selects documents to be published in the form of manuscripts and microfiche as well as made available through their website, which receives a half-million downloads daily. According to a Washington Post feature story, the Archive files roughly 2,000 FOIA requests annually, collecting about 75,000 documents. The Archive appealed 549 FOIA decisions in 2006, and has filed more than 40 lawsuits to obtain compliance with its requests.[1]
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History [edit]
On October 1, 2007, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly reversed George W. Bush on archive secrecy, issuing a 38-page ruling that the U.S. Archivist's reliance on the executive order to delay release of the papers of former presidents is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law". National Security Archives, at George Washington University alleged that the Bush order severely slowed or prevented the release of historic presidential papers.[2]
The Archive operates under an advisory board which is directed by Tom Blanton and is overseen by a board of directors. The Archive's research was awarded in late 2005 by winning an Emmy Award for its work on the documentary Declassified: Nixon in China. More recently, the Archive uncovered a secret reclassification program operating since 1999.[3] This program was underway to reclassify documents related to American foreign policy during the 1940s and 1950s, at the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials in question had all been declassified during the Clinton administration.
From 1985 until 1998, the Fund for Peace, Inc., was the archive's fiscal sponsor. Among the Archive's more prominent institutional supporters today are the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Freedom Forum, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Congressional Quarterly, and Cox Enterprises. The Archive receives funding from these and other, organizations via their donations to the National Security Archive Fund, established in order to administer the Archive's finances.
See also [edit]
- CIA Library
- Cryptome
- Family jewels (Central Intelligence Agency), documents unclassified in June 2007
- Freedom of the Press Foundation
- Library of National Intelligence
- National Security Agency academic publications
- Operation Condor
- Operation Northwoods
- United States intervention in Chile
- Wikileaks
References [edit]
- ^ Carlson, Peter (2008-05-08). "Eyes Only: (redacted) - In Its (redacted) Offices, the National Security Archive Houses Stockpiles of (redacted), Gotten From the Government by (redacted)". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Court reverses Bush on archive secrecy", Reuters.
- ^ US 'reclassifying' public files BBC Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 13:28 GMT
External links [edit]
- National Security Archive
- Digital National Security Archive Collections
- Charity Navigator overview of the National Security Archive Fund
- National Security Archive Sues CIA, 2006
- NSA Director Tom Blanton speaks on "Secrecy in the United States: Priorities for the Next President", Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service, Suffolk University Law School, October 12, 2008
- C-SPAN Q&A interview with Tom Blanton, December 23, 2007
- 1985 establishments in the United States
- Archives in the United States
- Central Intelligence Agency operations
- Freedom of information in the United States
- History of the foreign relations of the United States
- Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.
- Organizations established in 1985
- United States government secrecy
- United States national security policy
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
