The Last NSAM Standing (fwd)

[J.A. Terranson]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:39:25 -0400
From: National Security Archive <archive at GWU.EDU>
To: NSARCHIVE at HERMES.GWU.EDU
Subject: The Last NSAM Standing

National Security Archive Update, April 21, 2011

THE LAST NSAM STANDING

Deconstructing a Secrecy Blunder:
A Study in Dysfunction

For more information contact:
John Prados - 202/994-7000

http://www.nsarchive.org

Washington, D.C., April 21, 2011 - The last remaining secret national 
security directive from the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, a 
National Security Action Memorandum on Laos, has finally been 
declassified, nearly fifty years after it was first issued, and was posted 
today on the Web site of the National Security Archive.

Today's posting is a case study of sorts--a selection of documents which 
are analyzed not so much for their historical value as for what the 
materials show about operation of the declassification system. This 
inquiry has its origins in a quest by Archive senior fellow Jeffrey T. 
Richelson to obtain the declassification of presidential national security 
directives issued since President Harry S. Truman. During the Kennedy and 
Johnson administrations, the highest level directives that flowed from the 
White House were called National Security Action Memoranda (NSAMs). 
President John F. Kennedy issued 173 NSAMs during his time in office. 
Reaching the point where only NSAM-29, on Laos, dated March 9, 1961, 
remained secret, Richelson finally obtained the declassification of this 
directive on October 29, 2010, almost fifty years after it was issued.

As the "last NSAM standing," NSAM 29 received significant attention inside 
the National Security Archive. But to the present author, the Archive's 
project director on Vietnam war records, it immediately seemed familiar. A 
search for related records produced a number of other items (also posted 
today) which provide the context for discussion of NSAM-29's release. More 
importantly, however, the search disclosed that the document, far from 
being the last NSAM standing, was already in the public domain, in 
multiple versions, some more than a decade old. Given present 
controversies over secrecy in America, the case of the last NSAM 
illuminates the enormous problems that are endemic in the declassification 
system.

Continue reading at the National Security Archive's Web site:

http://www.nsarchive.org

________________________________________________________

THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.

_________________________________________________________

PRIVACY NOTICE The National Security Archive does not and will never share the names or e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. Once a year, we will write you and ask for your financial support. We may also ask you for your ideas for Freedom of Information requests, documentation projects, or other issues that the Archive should take on. We would welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about subscribers to any other party.