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The CIA Is Closing the Office That Declassifies Historical Documents

Posted by samzenpus on from the box-it-up dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "As a result of the sequester-induced budget cuts, the CIA is closing the Historical Collections Division office, which declassifies historical documents, and transferring the divisions responsibilities to the office that handles FOIA requests. The Historical Collections Division is described on its website as 'an important part of CIA's ongoing effort to be more open and to provide for more public accountability.' It is a 'voluntary declassification program that focuses on records of historical value,' including information on the Vietnam War, spy satellites, the Bay of Pigs and other historical scandals and operations."

3 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Typical by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CIA officials said they closed the Historical Collections Division to accommodate federal budget cuts that the White House and Congress proposed last year to create pressure for a deficit reduction deal. No deal materialized, so across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester were imposed.

    The real problem isn't that they're rolling this into their FOIA office, it's that they'll undoubtedly not move the personnel too.
    Institutional knowledge is incredibly important in any organization and even more so for a group that deals with history.

    Not to mention the fact that FOIA requests are always backlogged, 30 day response requirements be damned.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  2. No more disagreement.. among .. historians by AHuxley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20121207/
    In the 1980's a CIA staff historian wrote a secret history of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
    Thanks to FOIA, some of the work was released in the 1990's.
    One final volume was locked up as the CIA "does not want to discourage disagreement among its historians."
    Welcome to a world where the CIA knows that any basic history can "confuse the public".
    Thanks to the sequester-induced budget cuts more US history can be kept safe with ever better long term document hygiene.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Expected bureaucractic response by redelm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just what did anyone reasonably expect? That in response to budget cuts a bureaucracy would suddenly get religion and root out the fat & waste? Why?

    That fat and waste has resisted previous cuts and is remarkably good at protecting itself. Spends all its energy at self-defense. Otherwise it would have been long gone.

    Useful activities spend at least some of their efforts at delivering services so has less for self-defense. Besides, they probably think they're too important to cut. And they are -- so what better way to stop the cutting?