Statement of A quorum being present, this hearing of the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology will come to order.
Rep. Stephen Horn, Chairman
Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology
House Government Reform CommitteeJune 27, 2000
"Implementation of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act"
The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 was enacted to ensure that documents held by the U.S. Government that pertain to the Holocaust would be declassified and made available to the public.
In October 1999, the National Archives, and Records Administration and the Interagency Working Group released an interim report to Congress on the declassification of these Second World War documents. According to the report, more than 300,000 pages of documents were to have been declassified by the fall of 1999. But, at the time, less than half of that mount had been declassified.
Since then, most agencies have picked up the pace to declassify documents of this era. Yesterday, the Interagency Working Group announced 400,000 pages of newly declassified documents were released today, mostly from the Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
By the time this declassification process is completed, roughly 5 to 8 million pages documenting this horrific period in history will be available for public scrutiny.
I would especially like to welcome Representative Tom Lantos, my colleague from California who authored the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. I welcome all of our witnesses today, and look forward to their testimony.