Panel: Federal Declassification Effort Faces Huge Problem

Published: January 14, 2008 11:20 AM ET

NEW YORK The government is lagging far behind in declassifying its secrets and the problem is getting worse as agencies create billions more electronic records containing classified information.

In a report released Jan. 9, a joint presidential-congressional advisory panel urged greater openness, a sore subject for a White House roundly criticized for secrecy.

The Public Interest Declassification Board said President Bush could take immediate steps to address the issue.

For example, it said, the White House should retain the president’s daily brief prepared by the CIA so historians, researchers and the public can eventually learn what the intelligence community has told the nation’s chief executive ...

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