An Update from the National Declassification Center
In the past 18 months, the National Declassification Center has completed processing of less than 5% of the 400 million page backlog of 25 year old historical records that are awaiting declassification. Still, the Center “remain[s] confident” that it will meet the December 2013 deadline set by President Obama for processing the entire backlog.
The Center has just published a new biannual report outlining its progress to date along with a description of current efforts and challenges ahead. The report notes that of the 18 million pages that have undergone declassification review at the Center thus far, 92% have been declassified and made available to the public.
The clearinghouse will also neutrally mediate the assignment of auditors to audits—strengthening independence, trust, and ethical governance across the AI ecosystem.
The potential implication of these evidence gaps becomes more consequential when you look at how institutions actually make decisions day to day.
Every new institution inherits something – existing incentives, existing staff, decades of prior investment that shaped what’s possible.
This is not the first time Google has agreed to censor imagery at the behest of governments, but be warned: obfuscation at this broad level poses a direct threat to the public’s ability to monitor and scrutinize government operations.