Top 10 Agency Initiatives: National Archives and Records Administration

As part of the special Federal News Radio series, “The Obama Impact: Evaluating the Last Four Years,” we asked more than two dozen federal agencies — including all of the Cabinet-level agencies — for a list of the three most effective, nonpolitical management initiatives or policies they’ve embarked on over the past four years.

National Declassification Center (NDC)

The NDC was established by Executive Order (EO) 13526, “Classified National Security Information.” The EO directed the Archivist of the United States to establish a national center to coordinate the timely and appropriate processing of referrals of 25-year old and older classified records of permanent historical value. EO 13526 directed the NDC “to streamline declassification processes, facilitate quality-assurance measures, and implement standardized training.” The Dec. 29, 2009 Presidential Memorandum accompanying EO 13526 specified a Dec. 31, 2013 deadline for addressing referrals and quality assurance problems within the 371 million pages of accessioned Federal records at NARA previously subject to automatic declassification to permit public access to the properly declassified records.

Not only is the NDC successfully addressing the past practices that prompted the stand up of the center by streamlining the declassification process, creating and implementing a proven quality assurance process, and developing a complete equity identification and reviewing curriculum, the center has done all this while making enormous strides in the retirement of the daunting backlog described in the Presidential memorandum accompanying the EO.

As of June 30, 2012, the NDC had assessed 335.3 million pages; successfully completed the quality assurance process for national security equities for 185.5 million pages; and completed all processing for 51.1 million pages. Of the 51.1 million pages, nearly 42 million pages were fully declassified for an 82 percent release rate.

Although all backlog pages must be processed by th December 2013 deadline, the NDC has prioritized certain collections based on researcher request and historical significance. This includes the first authorized release of the complete report to the Vietnam taskforce (The Pentagon Papers) in 2011, a collection of records related to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 2011, a 2012 emphasis on POW/MIA records from the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and records associated with the World War II Katyn Massacre to be highlighted in September 2012.

Open Government Plan

The Presidential Memoranda on Transparency and Open Government launched a wide-ranging open government initiative which led to the development of the National Archives’ Open Government Plan. The development and execution of that plan has resulted in a number of successful initiatives for the National Archives.

The Administration’s Open Government initiative also led to the Presidential Memoranda on Managing Government Records. Well-managed records can be used to assess the impact of programs, to improve business processes, and to share knowledge across the Government. Records protect the rights and interests of people and hold officials accountable for their actions. Records management is the backbone of open government.

NARA currently is developing the Managing Government Records Directive in response to the Presidential Memorandum which required a focus on six critical areas:

1. Creating a Government-wide records management framework that is more efficient and cost-effective;
2. Promoting records management policies and practices that enhance the capability of agencies to fulfill their statutory missions;
3. Maintaining accountability through documentation of agency actions;
4. Increasing open government and appropriate public access to Government records;
5. Supporting agency compliance with applicable legal requirements related to the preservation of information relevant to litigation; and
6. Transitioning from paper-based records management to electronic records management where feasible.

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