Obama issues order to limit number of classified records held from public
By Anne Flaherty, APTuesday, December 29, 2009
Obama moves to curb federal secrets
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered the federal government to rethink how it protects the nation’s secrets, in a move that was expected to declassify more than 400 million pages of Cold War-era documents and curb the number of government records hidden from the public.
Among the changes is a requirement that every record is released eventually. Obama also directed federal agencies to review their policies on protecting information and called for the creation of a new National Declassification Center at the National Archives to assist them.
Advocates for a more open government are cheering the move, but say increased transparency will depend upon agency compliance.
In a memo to agency heads, Obama said he expects the order will improve openness and vowed to monitor the outcome.
