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Secret Gov't Documents Will be Declassified 12/31

mozzwald writes "This New Year's Eve, at midnight on the dot, hundreds of millions of pages of U.S. government secrets will be revealed. Or at least they'll no longer be official secrets — it may actually take months or more for the National Archives and Records Administration to make those pages available for public consumption."

15 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. in other words by macadamia_harold · · Score: 5, Funny

    it may actually take months or more for the National Archives and Records Administration to make those pages available for public consumption.

    in other words, it takes the government a few months to go over every line on every page with a black marker. The pages might be declassified (but see if you can read the information!)

    1. Re:in other words by WgT2 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry. Perhaps they'll release the blacked-out material as Word docs.

      You'll be able to read everything then!

    2. Re:in other words by amliebsch · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe, but the real challenge will be to read them before Sandy Berger stuffs them in his pants and "misplaces" them.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  2. Too many exeptions. by packeteer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The least of acceptable exceptions is too long. If a document involves multiple agencies it wont be free. This will do nothing to calm down conspiracy theories, but it will be interesting for historians.

    --
    unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
  3. Re:Can't wait... by Threni · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > Can't wait 25 years to know how my president mislead us into this Iraq quagmire. We just lost 100 people so far this month and
    > counting! Very sad indeed. More American lives have now been lost in Iraq as compared to those that died on 9/11.

    I don't know what you expect to find. There's nothing unique about the US intervention in Iraq - it's for exactly the same reasons as all the other meddling in other countries affairs going back through most of the 20th century. No cover ups or conspiracy theories are required - it's been taking place quite openly. You might want to start with `manufacturing consent` or `hegemony or survival` by Noam Chomsky for what's been going on, and how the a free media like that in the US handles it.

  4. Finally by Psychotria · · Score: 4, Funny

    The secret invasion by aliens will be revealed. I, for one, welcome our new overlords. I've been watching them for years on Lost in Space, Star Trek, V, Battlestar Gallactica and The Smurfs. I am looking forward to the secret being revealed and my release from the asylum.

  5. Re:Can't wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hundreds? Try hundreds of thousands.

  6. Re:Can't wait... by oggiejnr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You would be suprised about the anount of documentation. If people lower down in the food chain want to cover themselves the first thing they do is put it in writing. Take the Suez Crisis for example. There is clearly documentation to show that the British used sexed up intelligence to manufacture a war against Egypt to reclaim Suez. If documentation exists to show this then I wouldn't be at all suprised if the same is true of Iraq

  7. Call it cynicism, but... by paganizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'll be pretty shocked if anything actually of use turns up. I'll definitely try to take a look myself; I've been searching for years for some of the info on the nuclear tests done in the late 50's, as my dad was in 13 of them.
    Hearing him talking about how much fun it was being in a foxhole 1.5 miles from ground zero, and digging out the rad badges and other stuff he kept as a souveneir, then seeing that there is no record to be found ANYWHERE that his unit was anywhere near where the tests were done has always fascinated me with the subject; hopefully someone will slip up and release a unit list for the Guinea Pig troops.

    --
    Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    1. Re:Call it cynicism, but... by vertinox · · Score: 4, Funny

      What kind of super powers does he have?

      Apparently to have the ability to still have children after 13 nuclear tests.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  8. It's nice to see they've solved the problem by MarkusQ · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was recently pleased to discover that our leaders have hit upon an ideal solution for the perennial problem of that pesky public eventually getting their hands on documents like this. It's so simple, I don't know why they didn't think of it sooner.

    Don't produce the information that will make you look bad in the first place.

    For instance:

    • After a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.
    • A rule change at the U.S. Geological Survey restricts agency scientists from publishing or discussing research without that information first being screened by higher-ups at the agency. Special screening will be given to "findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed.
    • The Treasury Department stopped producing reports showing how the benefits of tax cuts were distributed by income class.
    • After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

    Of course, the old trick of covering up / reclassifying things is still in use as well:

    • The FBI attempted to retroactively classify public information regarding the case of bureau whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, including a series of letters between the Justice Department and several senators.
    • President Bush issued an executive order limiting the public's access to presidential records. The order undermined the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which required the release of those records after 12 years. Bush's order prevented the release of "68,000 pages of confidential communications between President Ronald Reagan and his advisers," some of whom had positions in the Bush Administration.
    • The Federal Communications Commission blocked access to a once-public database of network outages affecting telecommunications service providers. The FCC removed public copies and exempted the information from Freedom of Information Act requests, saying it would "jeopardize national security efforts."
    • The Federal Communications Commission ordered destroyed all copies of an unreleased 2004 draft report concluding that media consolidation hurt local TV news coverage, which runs counter to the administration's pro-consolidation stance.
    • ...and so on.

    Still, I think the new approach is much more elegant and will probably save the taxpayers a lot in the long run.

    --MarkusQ P.S. Sources and many more examples here.

  9. Re:Can't wait... by Charcharodon · · Score: 5, Funny
    There was plenty of justification for attacking Iraq.

    The president said "Hey let's attack Iraq" and Congress said "America!...Fuck Yea!" and then Congress said to Americans "Hey let's attack Iraq" and they said "America!...Fuck Yea!" and that's all there is to it.

    There are no bench-marks or justfications for war just details and more importantly the willingness to goto war.

  10. UFOs!!!!!!! by curtisk · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wow. The 25 most used search terms in the last month at the CIA's FOIA document request.

    UFOs are at the top!

    Considering the rest of that list, its very interesting how pervasive the questions around UFOs are. Sadly, sasquatch has fallen out of public favor...

    --

    Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!

  11. Re:Can't wait... by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nothing of interest will be there. The interesting info would be in Reagan's term. But just before the info was to be release, W. did an executive order that allows a president or their heir or a current admin to redact any info that they think would damage their reputation. Hopefully the next president will have some morals and allow us none people to see exactly what what past presidents have been and done. That should include ALL of the reagan info including his irangate as well as his work in having Iran hold our hostages before the election and his dealings with Sadaam as well as OBL.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  12. Re:What do they have to do with each other? by c_forq · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Has everyone forgotten our invasion of Afghanistan? Seriously, after 9/11 the push was to Afghanistan and NO ONE protested. Before the Iraq war millions protested, with some cities having the largest protests in their entire history Iraq's debacle with the UN inspectors set off the start to invading Iraq, and than Saddam kept bluffing and refusing to say he didn't have chemical weapons or to allow UN inspections to resume. I swear people are trying to rewrite current history to make Iraq immediately after 9/11 and completely caused by 9/11. Maybe that works better for the conspiracy theories, but it doesn't really fit the reality I lived through.

    --
    Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns