revision
05-28-2009, 09:59 AM
Obama to declassify confidential documents
Thu, 28 May 2009 08:42:53 GMT
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=96273§ionid=3510203
US President Barack Obama has ordered his national security adviser and top administration officials to rid the government of the "over-classification" of data.
In a Wednesday memo aimed at paving the way for more transparency in administrative dealings, the US president expressed dissatisfaction with the undue confidentiality upheld in government affairs, which, he said, keeps the public from the right to access to necessary information.
Obama said he was "committed to operating with an unprecedented level of openness," adding that he would favors more dissemination of unduly-classified facts and figures.
He also assigned US national security adviser James Jones Jr. with the creation a National Declassification Center in order "to bring appropriate agency officials together to perform collaborative declassification review under the administration of the archivist of the United States."
The center would help ease the flow of off-the-record data at the discretion of the Archivist of the United States in an attempt to "strike the proper balance" between the release of secret information and civil rights of privacy.
In addition, the US president commissioned Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to oversee efforts made to tackle the unnecessary classification of national security records and report back the findings in a matter of three months.
Obama has frequently stated that institutional struggles braced with technological advances to attain sensitive data have limited the spread of information nationwide.
Thu, 28 May 2009 08:42:53 GMT
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=96273§ionid=3510203
US President Barack Obama has ordered his national security adviser and top administration officials to rid the government of the "over-classification" of data.
In a Wednesday memo aimed at paving the way for more transparency in administrative dealings, the US president expressed dissatisfaction with the undue confidentiality upheld in government affairs, which, he said, keeps the public from the right to access to necessary information.
Obama said he was "committed to operating with an unprecedented level of openness," adding that he would favors more dissemination of unduly-classified facts and figures.
He also assigned US national security adviser James Jones Jr. with the creation a National Declassification Center in order "to bring appropriate agency officials together to perform collaborative declassification review under the administration of the archivist of the United States."
The center would help ease the flow of off-the-record data at the discretion of the Archivist of the United States in an attempt to "strike the proper balance" between the release of secret information and civil rights of privacy.
In addition, the US president commissioned Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to oversee efforts made to tackle the unnecessary classification of national security records and report back the findings in a matter of three months.
Obama has frequently stated that institutional struggles braced with technological advances to attain sensitive data have limited the spread of information nationwide.