1. Curtis A. Utz, Naval History & Heritage Command

2.  Providing the proper access to records is a primary mission of U.S. government archivists. ◦ Access to records limited by law, including national security and privacy ◦ Archival challenges that include back logs and poor prior practices ◦ Review process challenges ◦ Solutions & Conclusion

3.  First passed in 1966  Amended 5 times  FOIA does not mean everything can be released  Response issues

4.  Government declassification: near continuous evolution largely by Executive Order (EO) ◦ First post-war EO issued by Eisenhower ◦ Modified by Kennedy; new EOs issued by Nixon, Carter & Reagan ◦ Clinton’s EO is most significant, modified by Bush ◦ Additional EO under Obama

5.  Declassification does not mean a record can be released; there are various controls usually based on Federal law ◦ Privacy Act ◦ Other FOIA exemptions such as proprietary material and law enforcement exclusions ◦ Kyl-Lott: response to inadvertent releases during Clinton EO reviews

6.  Primary challenge: RESOURCES  Changes to EOs and laws, including interpretation in the courts ◦ Additional requirements without understanding or resources is counterproductive  Archival challenges: back logs must have initial processing done prior to declassification review ◦ Not always followed in past, resulting in reworking and potential chaos  Joint and multi-agency equity records and changing methods including the role of government personnel and contractors  Ineffective records management - particularly electronic data

7.  Clarify roles & responsibilities ◦ Development of National Declassification Center at NARA ◦ Improvement of interagency cooperation & coordination  Better use of technology ◦ Move towards machine-assisted review  Improve training & awareness across knowledge management spectrum  Reasonable expectations from customers  Find more resources

8.  Government archivists try to provide all properly releasable information  FOIA process works, but can be improved  Declassification process has improved, but more work needs to be done  Better training and education for government employees; realistic expectations from customers  Greatest need: more resources, utilized more effectively