Order Addresses Digital Declassification

A much anticipated redo of classification policy released by the White House this week confers new responsibilities for addressing the impending problem of reviewing mountains of electronic records for declassification.

An executive order on classified national security information that was disclosed on Tuesday establishes a declassification center and directs the center to coordinate "the development of solutions to declassification challenges posed by electronic records, special media, and emerging technologies."

The Information Security Oversight Office, part of the National Archives and Records Administration, warned President George W. Bush in 2007 that "too little has been done with regard to . . . developing plans to cope with the truly monumental problem looming on the horizon: the review of classified information contained in electronic records."

Classified information is subject to automatic declassification after 25 years. The Information Security Oversight Office noted that today most information being screened for declassification is paper-based but that is clearly changing. The report predicted that one day all federal records may be digitized and stored electronically.