SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2018, Issue No. 2
January 5, 2018

Secrecy News Blog: https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: RECENT RETIREMENTS

Several government officials who collectively represent much of the public face of the national security secrecy system have retired recently. They include:

In various ways they have all been significant collaborators -- or at least partners in debate -- with public advocates of greater openness, and they have all contributed to a gradual increase in public access to national security information.

Their diverse activities and achievements are not fully known to me and cannot be summarized here. But from my own limited vantage point, each one made a positive difference.

After I raised the question of declassifying US records regarding Indonesia in the 1960s (at a June 2016 meeting of the Public Interest Declassification Board), Sheryl Shenberger approached me to ask for more information, which I provided. It turned that this task was ideal for the National Declassification Center, especially since it involved a set of records that were both historically important and relatively limited in volume. She saw to it that the collection was declassified and released last year.

Stephen Randolph helped advocate for the release of the long-suppressed Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) volume on the 1953 coup in Iran, which was finally published last year. Under his leadership, the Historian's Office was strengthened, productivity was increased, and FRUS began to be published within its mandated 30-year deadline for the first time in decades.

David Sherman helped foster internal and external discussion of changes to government secrecy policy. And when I pointed out that a "finding aid" to historical NSA records at the National Archives was unhelpfully classified, he conceded that was a mistake and expedited its declassification.

Joseph Lambert (who retired early last year) had the difficult task of defending CIA classification policies. But he was always willing to discuss the subject, to acknowledge errors and to correct them.

In fact, the accessibility of these officials -- their willingness to engage with members of the public -- was perhaps their single most admirable feature. For my part, I think each of them helped me to see problems of disclosure from a government perspective, to understand what might be feasible and what was not, and to formulate proposals for change that could be acted upon by their respective bureaucracies.

DEFENSE ACQUISITION REFORM, AND MORE FROM CRS

Over the last three years, Congress has sharply increased its legislative activity on defense acquisition reform, with an average of 82 new provisions in this area per year, compared to an average of 47 provisions in the previous decade. "Reform" here often means expanded authority to acquire military goods and services with increased flexibility.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service analyzes and summarizes that recent legislation, which affects contracting, auditing, major defense programs, and many other complicated but important topics. See Acquisition Reform in the FY2016-FY2018 National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs), January 4, 2018:

If the National Flood Insurance Program is not reauthorized by Congress prior to January 19, 2018, many of its key provisions will expire. See: What Happens If the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Lapses?, CRS Insight, updated January 3, 2018:

Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2018 Budget and Appropriations, updated January 3, 2018:

Cyprus: Reunification Proving Elusive, updated January 2, 2018:

Serbia: Background and U.S. Relations, January 4, 2018:

Membership of the 115th Congress: A Profile, updated January 3, 2018:

Clean Air Act Issues in the 115th Congress: In Brief, January 3, 2018:

Military Service Records and Unit Histories: A Guide to Locating Sources, updated January 2, 2018:

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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