President Asks for Agency Views on Declassification
President Bush this week ordered executive branch agency heads to respond to dozens of recommendations that were issued earlier this month by the Public Interest Declassification Board, an official advisory group, regarding the declassification of historical records.
The Board’s report, “Improving Declassification” (pdf), presented 49 recommendations to increase the utility and productivity of declassification, such as establishment of a National Declassification Center, creation of a public database of declassified documents, expedited declassification of presidential records including the President’s Daily Brief, and new procedures for declassification of closed congressional hearing records and other documents.
“Please submit in writing no later than April 15, 2008… your views on each of the recommendations, including with respect to each recommendation your view of whether and to what extent it should be implemented,” President Bush told the agency heads on January 29.
The Board’s report hardly made a ripple when it was released earlier this month. And since it is purely advisory, it could easily have been ignored.
But the President’s response increases the likelihood that the Board’s recommendations will now receive serious consideration, inside and outside of the executive branch.
Could the largest U.S. public-private critical minerals deal of the decade be a model for the future?
“My job is to make that space honest, human, and useful by always asking questions, listening longer, and following the science. So that our decisions are grounded in evidence and driven by care.”
By better harnessing the power of data, we can build a learning healthcare system where outcomes drive continuous improvement and where healthcare value leads the way.
In this unprecedented inflection point (and time of difficult disruption) for higher education, science funding, and agency structure, we have an opportunity to move beyond incremental changes and advocate for bold, new ideas that envision a future of the scientific research enterprise that looks very different from the current system.