Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002
As a follow-up to my July 25 posting, Depository Libraries Directed to Destroy DOJ Pamphlets, from the American Library Association, Department of Justice Rescinds Order for Libraries to Destroy Documents and ALA welcomes Department of Justice decision to rescind destruction request. For reference, here is a link to the GPO’s initial directive: SuDocs Letter – …
A Web-Based Database of CIA Declassified Documents on the Vietnam War From Texas Tech University, “the Virtual Vietnam Archive currently contains over 685,000 pages of scanned documents.” Search the Virtual Vietnam Archive From the University of Saskatchewan Library, the Declassified CIA Documents on the Vietnam War database currently indexes 1,200 documents, and provides an advanced …
The New York Times reports that sales of the 9/11 Commission’s 567 page report, released on July 22, have reached 350,000 copies, and the authorized publisher of the book anticipates printing several hundred thousand additional copies. See also this San Francisco Chronicle article that states that 800,000 plus print copies of the report have been …
The Washington Post reported that the Archivist of the United States John Carlin, appointed in 1995 by President Clinton, resigned under pressure, subsequent to a telephone call from White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. Mr Carlin has spearheaded NARAs Electronic Records Archives Program. “NARA appraises, manages, stores, and declassifies classified government records.” On July 22, the …
Spawning a Culture of Secrecy, by Mark Tapscott, July 28. [Secrecy News]
The Report on Cost Estimates for Security Classification Activities for 2003 from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). [Link] See this article and this article for perspectives on the overclassification of government documents compiled at taxpayer expense. In addition, here is a press release from Senator Ron Wyden about recently introduced bipartisan legislation to create …
From the Boston Globe, this article reports the story about a DOJ directive to GPO concerning the destruction of five government documents on the prosecution of asset forfeiture cases. The data contained therein is already part of the public record, raising questions about the directive by the library community.
Using P2P applications, Download for Democracy is providing free access to a growing database archive, currently comprising “600 government memos, communications, and reports, all of which were obtained from mainstream media sources, respected legal or academic groups, or the federal government itself.” For background and commentary on this new website, created and maintained by a …
From the New York Times, July 11: “The Central Intelligence Agency’s decision to delete extensive sections of a Senate report on faulty Iraq intelligence has so outraged Senator Trent Lott that Mr. Lott, the former majority leader, is calling for an independent commission to govern classified information.”
Today the Senate Committee on Intelligence released a report detailing intelligence failures prior to the invasion of Iraq. Report Says Key Assertions Leading to War Were Wrong Conclusions Excerpted From Full Report , Conclusion 1. Most of the major key judgments in the Intelligence Community’s October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iraq’s Continuing Programs for …
Statement of Dara Corrigan Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General Department of Health and Human Services on Thomas Scully and Richard Foster Investigation (PDF) “Based on our investigation, we conclude that: CMS did not provide premium estimates that had been requested by Members of Congress. Additionally, CMS did not provide Congressional staff with some overall estimates …
According to this National Security Archive press release, more than 2.4 million FOIA requests have been filed since the law was signed on July 4, 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson, “at a yearly cost of just over $1 per citizen.” The Archive commemorates the importance of this law by publishing “an itemized list of 38 …
