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Re: FWD: NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #29, September 1, 2000



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From: hhodges <hhodges@CECASUN.UTC.EDU>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Saturday, September 02, 2000 4:12 PM
Subject: FWD: NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #29, September 1, 2000


>Apologies for the formatting; I am currently in an unfamiliar email
>environment--Holly Hodges
>
>
>>===== Original Message From H-Net Distribution List for NCC Reports
><H-NCC@H-NET.MSU.EDU> =====
>NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol 6, #29, September 1, 2000
>by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of the National Coordinating Committee
>for the Promotion of History
>
>1.  CIA Compelled to Disclose Records
>2.  Library of Congress Publishes Annual Report; National Research Council
>Report Chides Library
>4.  News Bits and Bytes: NARA Publishes Proposed Rule - Urges Public
>Comment; DOD Report on Declassification Secured via FOIA
>
>1.  CIA COMPELLED TO DISCLOSE RECORDS
>In early August the National Security Archive (NSA) won a partial summary
>judgement in a U. S. District Court against the Central Intelligence Agency
>(CIA) . The Court's decision establishes a new precedent that effectively
>challenges that agency's traditional policy of refusing to "neither confirm
>or deny" the existence of certain CIA-prepared information when responding
>to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
>
>In this instance, back in May 1995, the NSA filed a FOIA request for the
>biographies of nine former Communist leaders of Eastern European countries
>(seven of whom are now dead).  Drawing upon the so-called "Glomar" claim
>(named after a lawsuit over access to records relating to the ship Glomar
>Explorer in which the CIA won the right to "neither confirm of deny"
>information when responding to information sought under a FOIA request) the
>CIA refused to confirm or deny the existence of the biographies.
>Consequently, the NSA filed suit in May 1999 in an effort to compel the
>agency to release the information.
>
>In the court's ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly found that the CIA had already
>admitted the existence of the biographies in a detailed article
declassified
>in 1994 and hence could not claim the information did not exist. The judge
>found: "To hold that the CIA has the authority to deny information that it
>has already admitted would violate the core principles of FOIA without
>providing any conceivable national security benefit."  While the decision
>does not completely nullify the CIA's ability to use the Glomar claim when
>responding to future FOIA requests by historians, journalists, and others,
>it does establish a precedent that could help to compel that agency to be
>more responsive, particularly when it can be established that the item
being
>sought via a FOIA request does exist.
>
>2.  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PUBLISHES ANNUAL REPORT; NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
>REPORT CHIDES LIBRARY
>On August 29 the Library of Congress (LC) released its 180-page annual
>report for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999. The report highlights
>the activities of the LC in Washington D.C. and its national and
>international outreach programs. Of particular interest to the
>historical/archival community is the report on the National Digital Library
>Program - 18 new multimedia historical collections and four library
>exhibitions have been added to the American Memory website.  At year's end,
>approximately 2.5 million Library of Congress items and some 85,000 items
>from collaborating institutions were online.
>
>For years the arrearage of unprocessed materials has been a concern of
>Congress.  That arrearage now stands at 19.8 unprocessed items - a decrease
>of about 50% from the time of the initial arrearage census taken in
>September 1989.  The report also highlights several important new
>collections that have been added to the Library's holdings including items
>relating to Supreme Court Justices Harry Blackmun and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
>In addition, various maps, papers and documents relating to the early
>history of the United States have been acquired.  Copies of the annual
>report are available from the Superintendent of Documents, PO Box 371954,
>Pittsburgh, PA 15250; cite stock number 030-000-00286-5 when ordering.
>
>In a related LC matter, a National Academy of Sciences report commissioned
>by the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, warns that the LC could
>become a "book museum" if the Library doesn't improve its ability to
respond
>to the Internet and other new technologies. While the 207-page report
>entitled "LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress" commends
the
>LC for its National Digital Library Program, it calls on the Library to
>acquire and preserve works such as websites that are "born digital."  The
>report prepared by the National Research Council (the chief operating arm
of
>the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering) also takes the Library to
>task for not being "sufficiently involved in the wider international
>community of research and practice surrounding contemporary librarianship."
>The report states that the Library lacks vision and is not thinking far
>enough ahead to enable it to act strategically and coherently.
>
>Library employees have been asked to read the Councils's report and give
>feedback in anticipation of the LC issuing a response in December.  Once
the
>response has been finalized, Library officials plan to request comments
from
>peers, external communities, and Congress. Interested parties can examine
>the report on the National Research Council website at
><http://www.nap.edu/books/0309071445/html/>.
>
>3.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
>Item #1:  On August 23, the National Archives and Records Administration
>published a proposed rule in the Federal Register designed to revise and
>reorganize the agency's regulations that govern access to NARA archival
>holdings (36 CFR, Part 1254) and NARA's own operational records (36 CFR,
>Part 1250) through the Freedom of Information Act. The proposed rule also
>incorporates changes mandated by new provisions in the Electronic Freedom
of
>Information Act Amendments of 1996 (EFOIA).  The proposed rule may be
>accessed via GPO access:
><http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a000823c.html> (Scroll down to
>subtitle "National Archives and Records Administration" -- "Proposed Rule")
>Comments are due by October 23, 2000.
>
>Item #2:  "Operations Security Impact on Declassification Management Within
>the Department of Defense" - a report prepared for the Assistant Secretary
>of Defense back in 1998 and recently secured through a Freedom of
>Information request argues that insufficient attention has been given to
the
>potential for inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information in the
>declassification process. The report also states that "a great deal of
>material can certainly be declassified within 25 years." According to the
>Federation of American Scientist's Project on Government Secrecy, the
report
>provides "a quaint, unvarnished view of the mind set of certain security
>officials."  The report is posted on
><http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dod_opsec.html>.
>
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