Biographies
Allen Weinstein was confirmed in 2005 by the U.S. Senate and began his service as the 9th Archivist of the United States leading the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). From 1985 to 2003, he served as President of The Center for Democracy, a non-profit foundation that he created in 1985 to promote and strengthen the democratic process, based in Washington, DC. He was University Professor and Professor of History at Boston University from 1985-89, University Professor at Georgetown University from 1981-1984 and, from 1981 to 1983, Executive Editor of The Washington Quarterly at Georgetown's Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as a member of The Washington Post editorial staff in 1981. From 1966-81 he was Professor of History at Smith College and Chairman of its American Studies Program.
Lee H. Hamilton is currently the president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Prior to becoming Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Mr. Hamilton served for 34 years as a United States Congressman from Indiana. He remains an important and active voice on matters of international relations, foreign affairs, and national security. He served as a Commissioner on the influential United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (better known as the Hart-Rudman Commission), and was Co-Chair with former Senator Howard Baker of the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos. He was a member of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. He is currently a member of the advisory council for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and in December 2002, he was appointed Vice Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Mr. Hamilton's commitment to national security is well known, ultimately winning him the Paul H. Nitze Award for Distinguished Authority on National Security Affairs in 1999.
Steven Aftergood is a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) specializing in national security information and intelligence policies. Mr. Aftergood directs the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, which works to reduce the scope of official secrecy and to promote reform of related security practices. He writes and edits the e-mail newsletter Secrecy News, which is read by more than 10,000 self-selected subscribers in media, Government, and among the general public. Mr. Aftergood has authored or co-authored papers and essays in Scientific American, Science, New Scientist, Journal of Geophysical Research, and Issues in Science and Technology, on topics including space nuclear power, atmospheric effects of launch vehicles, and Government information policy.
Thomas S. Blanton is Director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Blanton served as the Archive's first director of planning and research beginning in 1986, became Deputy Director in 1989, and Executive Director in 1992. He filed his first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1976 as a weekly newspaper reporter in Minnesota; and among many hundreds subsequently, he filed the FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit (with Public Citizen Litigation Group) that forced the release of Oliver North's Iran-contra diaries in 1990. Mr. Blanton is a founding editorial board member of freedominfo.org, the virtual network of international freedom of information advocates.
Rebecca Carr began her journalism career in 1989. In 2000, Ms. Carr was promoted to the national staff for all of the Cox-owned newspapers. In that role, she launched the chain's coverage of the burgeoning nonprofit industry. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, she headed up the Cox Washington Bureau's coverage of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. Since January 2005, she has concentrated her reporting on the rising level of secrecy in the Federal Government. Ms. Carr recently won the Society of Professional Journalists award for national reporting for her coverage of Government secrecy issues.
Edmund Cohen joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1967. He has served as an intelligence analyst and in the Office of General Counsel where he advanced to Associate General Counsel and Chief of the Administrative Law Division. Mr. Cohen was appointed Deputy Director of Personnel in 1985 and Director of Information Management in 1994. As Chief of Information Management Services, he is currently responsible for all CIA records management, archival services, classification management, and declassification and release programs. Mr. Cohen is also the CIA member of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel.
Margaret P. Grafeld is the Director of the Office of Information Programs and Services, Department of State, which exercises worldwide responsibility for the Department's records management, public access to information, privacy, classification management and review, corporate records archives, special document production, and the Ralph J. Bunche Library. She is a member of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and has served as chair of its Executive Committee. Ms. Grafeld is the State Department representative on the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP).
Lawrence J. Halloran is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience in public policy and advocacy. He currently serves as Staff Director and Counsel to the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform. From 1995 through 1998, Mr. Halloran was Staff Director and Counsel to the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.
Michael J. Kurtz currently serves as the Assistant Archivist for the Office of Records Services-Washington, DC. Dr. Kurtz joined the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 1974 and has worked in various archival and staff positions in the Office of the Federal Records Centers, the Office of Management and Administration, and the Office of the National Archives. He has had several publications in the areas of archival management, the American Civil War, and World War II. Dr. Kurtz leads NARA's efforts to implement Executive Order 12958, as amended, "Classified National Security Information," and coordinates declassification efforts with agencies throughout the Federal Government.
Anna K. Nelson is the Distinguished Historian in Residence at American University where she teaches courses related to 20th Century U.S. Foreign Policy. She served on the Public Documents Commission (1976-77) and was Director of the foundation-funded Committee on the Records of Government (1983-85). Dr. Nelson has also served on the Department of State Historical Advisory Committee and received a Presidential appointment to serve on the Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board (1994-98). Representing historical organizations, she has testified repeatedly for access to records.
Charles S. Phalen, Jr., is a Central Intelligence Agency executive detailed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice. On September 16, 2003, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III appointed Mr. Phalen to the position of Assistant Director, Security Division. He is responsible for the continued transformation of security at the FBI and an integrated security program that enables the accomplishment of the Bureau's investigative mission. Mr. Phalen is also responsible for the day-to-day operation of the FBI security program, which includes the personnel, industrial, facility, and information systems security disciplines.
Robert W. Rogalski currently serves as the Director of Security, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Counterintelligence and Security), Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence), Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service and is responsible for developing and promulgating Department of Defense policy for personnel security, physical security, industrial security, information security, operations security, chemical/biological security, special access program security, and research and technology protection. Mr. Rogalski is a highly decorated Army veteran who served for more than 20 years as a Military Intelligence Officer in key positions in the United States and overseas.
L. Britt Snider served both the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government for 30 years. In 1995, Mr. Snider became staff director of the Presidential commission "Aspin/Brown" that assessed the roles and capabilities of U.S. intelligence agencies at the end of the Cold War. In 1997, he continued Government service as special counsel to the Director of Central Intelligence, George J. Tenet. A year later, he was appointed by President Clinton as the second statutory Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, in which capacity he served for three years, until his retirement in 2001. In October 2004, he was appointed by President Bush to chair the nine-member Public Interest Declassification Board, created by Congress to represent the public interest in classification policy matters. Mr. Snider is currently an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.