Ms. Redden writes that the order provides “far greater discretion to indefinitely classify documents long after the 12-year post-presidency period during which executive privileges have typically applied.”

The word “classify” actually is a term of art in archival circles. Consequently, for reporters, a better phrase than “classify” to describe what is involved with E.O. 13233 would be “claim privilege.” That’s because the term “classify” has a specific meaning for archivists. The process of protecting classified information is described in a different, much earlier executive order, the one on national security classification, available athttp://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-amendment.html

The order that Ms. Redden is writing about, Executive Order 13233, passes on certain rights to a President’s heirs. A President’s son or daughter (such as Chelsea Clinton or Barbara or Jenna Bush) usually would not have held government office enabling them to “classify” documents. Even if they once did have classification authority, which is unlikely unless they were government employees in certain positions, the ability to classify documents doesn’t pass on to family members from an official. That’s because it attaches to a government function, not to a person.

Of course, the government has been protecting classified information for a long time, using statutes and executive orders going back to 1940. For a historical narrative of that separate process as described on a government website, seehttps://www.osti.gov/opennet/forms.jsp?formurl=od/history.html

President Bush’s 2001 order on application of executive privilege as it relates to the Presidential Records Act resulted from notification received by the White House at the beginning of 2001 that the National Archives proposed to open certain records at its Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. These were records that the government archivists had determined did not require statutory or regulatory protection as of then. The White House reportedly considered the issue, as reflected in letters sent to the Archives between March and August 2001, available at

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/09/presrecs.html

and then issued Executive Order 13233.

Again, I understand why Ms. Redden used the term classify more generally than it is intended — I’ve seen others outside the National Archives do that also — but for federal archivists, the word has a specific meaning related to the older order, E.O. 12958, not President Bush’s E.O. 13233. Of course, material that falls within the scope of E.O. 12958 is protected as long as necessary, and has been for a long time. President Nixon set in motion a systematic process of declassification in the 1970s.

Maarja Krusten, Historian and former NARA Nixon tapes archivist, at 4:25 am EST on March 3, 2007

Confusion understandable but these links should help

Mr. Younger’s post suggests that I was correct in cautioning Ms. Redden not to use the term “classify.” Executive orders covering national security matters have been issued since 1940 and the current one is E.O. 12958, issued during the Clinton administration and amended in part by President Bush. There is a process in place for systematic declassification.

The hearing last Thursday was about an existing statute, the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the administration of which has been affected by a different executive order, 13233. The focus of the order is exertion of executive privilege over Presidential records that the National Archives proposes to open. So the records would already have been screened within the government for application of existing laws and orders relating to privacy, secrecy, etc., before notification was made to the former and sitting President that the Archives proposed to open them.

If you are interested in learning more about the separate process of classification and declassification, here are two links, one from the National Archives’ website, the other an article in the Washington Post about the Archives’ records declassification division. (My late twin sister, Eva Krusten, worked as a senior archivist in that division and trained some of the people mentioned in the piece.)

See

http://www.archives.gov/isoo/speeches-and-articles/ncms-2004.html

for the text of a speech by a high ranking National Archives’ official in 2004 at a seminar at the National Classification Management Society

and

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-...011501216.html?referrer=emailarticle

There seems to be a lot of confusion among the public about some of these processes. I’m not surprised of course, I have little or no idea how you all do things on campus. I’ve never worked in academe. So if I tried to comment on the intricacies of some of your processes, I’m sure I’d get some things wrong, also. But if you read the stories, you can see that assessment of equities in classified documents is handled within the government as it is an executive function. You’ll see a description of a 25 year time period. NO mention there of a 12 year time period. There also is no description of a President’s heirs playing a role, as is envisioned in the assertion of the Presidential communications privilege under E.O. 13233.

I hope this helps clarify some of these complicated issues.

Maarja Krusten, Historian and former NARA Nixon tapes archivist, at 1:55 pm EST on March 3, 2007