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Status of the FBI Document Classification Unit



STATUS OF THE FBI DOCUMENT CLASSIFICATION UNIT
by Michael Ravnitzky, mikerav@ix.netcom.com

The FBI recently sent me some status reports concerning the FBI Document
Classification Unit [DCU].  The DCU is the unit responsible for
reviewing FBI documents for declassification in whole or part.  While
the Justice Department committee responsible for declassification
decisions indicates that IT has no existing backlog, much of the reason
for that the actual declassification review concerning FBI records takes
place at the DCU.  This note is based upon the following sources [all
available from the FBI]:

- the FBI quarterly reports summarizing the Document Declassification
process pursuant to the Attorney General memorandum dated October 27,
1995 regarding EO 12958; as well as

- statistical summaries for the DCU for the past few fiscal years.


DCU workload comes from a variety of sources, and the FBI tracks
statistics for each.  Reasons for declassification include FOIA
requests, Privacy Act requests, civil discovery actions, executive
agency unit requests, FBI Field Office *see* Files, Mandatory
Declassification reviews, Systematic Declassification review, and
administrative review.

The FBI is making solid, if belated progress toward its objective of
reducing the declassification backlog, based on a review of the
statistical summaries for the past three fiscal years, and a review of
the quarterly reports on FBI Declassification Efforts for the past
couple of years.

The FBI Goals include:

1- reviewing 17 classifications identified by NARA as historically
valuable by December 31, 2000;

2- accessioning these files to NARA immediately upon review;

3- eliminating the pre-1990 Appeals Team backlog by Dec. 31, 1999;

4- complying with the spririt of the memorandum of understanding between
FBI and NARA regarding declassification [exempting FBI from automatic EO
12958 declassification requirements in exchange for increased transfer
of materials to NARA]

The Appeals Team reviews material for declassification in response to
FOIA and Privacy Act appeals remanded to the DCU by the Justice
Department.  The FBI projects elimination by December 31, 1999 of the
Appeals declassification backlog for appeals received between 1983 and
1993.  The FBI projects elmination by December 31, 2000 of the Appeals
declassification backlog for appeals received between 1994 and 1998.

One particularly troublesome and voluminous review, The Nosenko appeal,
which consists of 37,000 pages, is projected to be completed by December
31, 2000.  The Nosenko appeal originated as a FOIA request from a
persistant writer for FBI files concerning Yuri Nosenko, a Soviet
defector. Here is a simplified summary of the matter that appeared
recently on the CNN site:
===========================
You are CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton.  It is 1964, and
KGB officer Yuri Nosenko, who claims he led the KGB's investigation of
Lee Harvey Oswald after President Kennedy*s assassination, has defected
to the West.

Nosenko's story raises suspicions in your office.  Some think the KGB
sent him to dispel fears of Soviet involvement in the assassination.
Also, information provided by Nosenko contradicts intelligence provided
by a previous defector, Anatoly Golitsyn.  Golitsyn has longed warned
that the Soviets would send fake defectors to discredit his claim that
there is a mole inside the CIA.

If Nosenko is a genuine defector, he could provide valuable information
on the Soviets.  If not, he could sow disinformation and impede the hunt
for Golitsyn's mole.

Whom do you believe, Nosenko or Golitsyn?
======================

Besides the 30 employees assigned to the Appeals Team, FBI staff are
assigned to other declassification projects:  43 employees assigned to
the Historical Document Review Team [HDRT], 18 assigned to Nazi War
Crimes document review, Pinochet-Chile and other projects, 30 employees
assigned to the Archival Unit.

The current status of the DCU remaining appeals backlog, at the end of
the Second Quarter 1999, is as follows:

Appeal Date     Cases Pending     Est. Number of Pages
1983                    2                  1300
1984                    1                     0
1985                    4                37,450
1986                    0                     0
1987                    1                  1000
1988                    5                  2029
1989                    2                   848
1990                    7                  3066
1991                   10                  3581
1992                   13                  6458
1993                   30                10,935
1994                   14                15,945
1995                   18                  2618
1996                   45                  2351
1997                   38                  2796
1998                   98                  3876
1999                   21                   341
TOTAL                 309                94,594

>From these statistics, it is apparent that the most recent appeals
generally involve a fairly small number of classified pages, while it is
the remaining older appeals that encompass more voluminous files.
During the past year, the FBI has completed several older cases, yet
several cases up to 16 years old remain.  These cases are actually
between 2 and 4 years older, because statistics are collected by the
year that the APPEAL was filed, not the year of the original request.

While the number of requesters seriously affected by the backlog is
fairly small within the overall context of FBI data release, the
affected requesters are doubtless justifiably quite dissatisfied with
the decades-long delay.  In many of these cases, lack of prioritization
for processing old cases, and lack of prompt review of equity
information from other agencies, has contributed to the long delay.

As a measure of the progress being made on this backlog, the DCU
completed 54 cases in the 2Q 1999, 13 cases completed in 1Q 1999, 8
cases completed in the 4Q 1998, and 22 cases completed in the 3Q 1998.

The FBI DCU uses a Classification Manual to provide guidance for DCU and
other staff with classification and declassification responsibilities.
This year, they are in the process of revising the Classification
Manual.  Both the previous revision of the Classification Manual and the
revised edition of the Manual may be requested from the FBI.

It appears that the FBI has taken substantial steps to improve the
declassification procedures, not the least of which are assigning
necessary manpower to fix the problem and thus better serve researchers,
writers and journalists.
=================================

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