Secrecy and FOIA

Washington, D.C., June 29, 2015 – Long before Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities – based on gas centrifuge technology – became the center of international negotiations, the U.S. tried to deny that same technology to any country that sought it. In 1954, Washington prohibited a company in occupied Germany from selling gas centrifuges to Brazil, according to declassified documents published today for the first time by the National Security Archive and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP).

Washington, D.C., May 19, 2015 - The National Security Archive together with leading U.S. historical associations today won a petition for the release of key remaining grand jury records from the prosecution of accused spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were indicted in 1951, convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union, and executed in 1953. In today's ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Alvin K.

Washington, D.C. April 24, 2015 - The nuclear inspection agency that is central to the current Iran negotiations is flunking international transparency norms, according to a report posted today by Freedominfo.org and the National Security Archive's Nuclear Vault. Key documents about International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proceedings, found in various national archives and private collections but closed at Agency headquarters in Vienna, are included in today's posting.

Washington, DC, March 18, 2015 – The Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council has won the infamous Rosemary Award for worst open government performance of 2014, according to the citation published today by the National Security Archive at www.nsarchive.org. The National Security Archive had hoped that awarding the 2010 Rosemary Award to the Federal Chief Information Officers Council for never addressing the government's "lifetime failure" of saving its e-mail electronically would serve as a government-wide wakeup call that saving e-mails was a priority.

In the News

Happy Sunshine Week: National Security Archive names E-Delinquents in 2015 E-FOIA Audit By Ms. Smith, Network World, March 17, 2015

Sunshine Week Column: Posting FOIA releases online saves agencies time and money  By Lauren Harper, The Sentinel, March 15, 2015

Transparency Advocates Launch Sunshine Week with Mixed Reviews for Obama By Charles S. Clark, Government Executive, March 16, 2015

Federal Agencies Get Poor Marks on Sunshine Week Scorecards By CJ Ciaramella, The Washington Free Beacon, March 16, 2015

n the News

Somebody Else Is Suing the State Department—To Get Kissinger’s Phone Calls By Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast, March 12, 2015

State Department hit with suit for Kissinger records By Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 4, 2015

Indexed Trove of Kissinger Phone Transcripts Is Completed By Scott Shane, The New York Times, December 23, 2008

Related Links

Declassified Documents Show Henry Kissinger's Major Role in the 1974 Initiative That Created the Nuclear Suppliers Group April 24, 2014

Washington, DC, February 23, 2015 –Documents posted for the first time — in a collaboration between the National Security Archive and VICE News — provide insight into the U.S. government's paradoxical and opportunistic relationship with arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, whose larger-than-life deals were so well known that he was an inspiration for Nicholas Cage's character Yuri Orlov in the 2005 film, Lord of War.

As part of the Federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee's mission to "to foster dialog between the Administration and the requester community, solicit public comments, and develop consensus recommendations for improving FOIA administration and proactive disclosures," the FOIA Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee has begun to compile a list of previously released reports on agencies' compliance with the law. Nate Jones of the National Security Archive is a member of the full committee.

Washington, D.C., December 9, 2014 – The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today released the executive summary of its long-awaited "Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program," describing in more than 500 pages a dysfunctional agency so unprepared to handle suspected terrorist detainees after 9/11, that the CIA bought into private contractors' proposals for torture, and then lied to Congress, President Bush, the Justice Department, the public, and to itself about the purported effectiveness of the program.