FAS Intro: Following is an excerpt from the Clinton Administration's response to the House version of the Defense Authorization Act for FY 2000. This Statement was first reported in the newsletter Inside the Pentagon.
May 27, 1999
(House)
Declassification of Records at DOD
The Administration strongly objects to Section 1031, which limits operations and maintenance spending for declassification to not more than $20 million during fiscal year 2000. This cut of about 90 percent from the President's request would cripple the President's effort to declassify information which has lost its national security sensitivity and is over 25 years old. Declassification of older information has two obvious benefits. First, it reduces high safeguarding costs and, second, it enhances security by ensuring that secrecy is respected and reserved for only the most important secrets. Moreover, the cut would place sensitive information at risk by providing inadequate resources to perform for [sic] statutorily required declassification reviews, e.g., in response to requests pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
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