The federal government declassified close to 200 million records in 1996, more than in the previous 12 years combined, according to a report released Friday by the National Archives and Records Administration.
However, agencies classified almost 6 million records last year, an increase of 62 percent over 1995.
President Clinton ordered the large-scale declassification two years ago, requiring agencies to review their classification standards and declassify most material that is 25 years or older. Agencies have set up declassification shops and have also reduced the number of people with classification authority.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) declassified 57 percent of the 1996 total and the Defense Department another 35 percent. The report also commended the U.S. Information Agency and the State, Commerce and Energy departments for their declassification efforts.
But other agencies, the report said, are off to a slow start.
"The rate of declassification at several agencies is lagging because of an apparent unwillingness to alter a highly overcautious approach to declassification," the report said. "Some agency declassifiers appear to be following decades-old standards in distinguishing between that information that qualifies for continued classification and that information that does not."
Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, said the Central Intelligence Agency and several components of the Defense Department, including the Army, are doing a "miserable or pathetic job" at declassification.
"The only way that's going to change is through leadership from the top of those bureaucracies," Aftergood said. "That type of leadership is, unfortunately, scarce."
In March, a bipartisan congressional commission recommended an overhaul of the government's classification system, arguing that "secrets can be protected more effectively if secrecy is reduced overall."
Declassification is a difficult undertaking in part because no one is sure how much classified material is out there and in part because some agencies require tedious line-by-line reviews of documents before they can be cleared for release. Executive Order 12958, issued in April 1995, set April 2000 as the date when most records that are at least 25 years old will be automatically declassified. Fifteen percent of records subject to the order were to be declassified last year. In its report, NARA said it was impossible to determine whether the 15 percent target was met because the government does not know how much classified material exists.
Steven Garfinckel, director of NARA's Information Security Oversight Office, said many agencies are doing an exemplary job at declassification. Although NARA does not collect data on the number of federal employees charged with declassification, he guessed that the number of declassifiers may be double the number of classifiers, which is about 4,000 governmentwide.
CIA and the Defense Department accounted for 96 percent of reported classifications in 1996. Of the nearly 6 million records classified last year, CIA classified about 3 million and Defense classified about 2.5 million, an increase over 1995 of 123 percent and 49 percent, respectively. Most of the Defense Department classifications were related to the deployment of U.S. troops in Bosnia. CIA attributed much of its increase to e-mail, which for the first time was included in CIA's sampling of classified actions.
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry last week said "the number of overall secrets authorized by the United States government declined by almost 37 percent last year." But the 37 percent decrease was in only one of the two categories of classifications. "Original" classifications are initial determinations on the confidentiality of documents. "Derivative" classifications are the stamp of secrecy for documents that refer to or are derived from original documents. CIA changed the way it categorizes classifications, shifting all of its secrets into the "derivative" category. "Original" classifications declined 37 percent, but "derivative" classifications increased 67 percent.
Contrary to McCurry's statement, the total number of classifications authorized by the government actually increased 62 percent last year, mainly due to the increases at CIA and Defense.
"Agency accounting of classification activity is very imprecise," Aftergood said.
Aftergood said, however, that agencies who have made a concerted effort at declassification should be commended.
"The hardest work is still ahead," he said. "But the trend is certainly moving in the right direction."
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