National Archives Releases Final Plan for Tackling 400 Million-Page Backlog
Press Release · Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Washington, DC

The National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC) announced the release of its Prioritization Plan for eliminating the 400+ million page backlog of reviewed, but unavailable archival records by December 2013. Also available, as Appendix B for Civilian Records and Appendix C for Defense records are FY 2011 Civilian and Defense work plans for Federal records. These plans provide greater detail on those records that will be processed in 2011.

The plan is a roadmap for the NDC to declassify and process for release federal records and Presidential materials. The annual work plans provide greater detail about which entries or subject areas within records groups are scheduled for processing this year. NDC Director Sheryl Shenberger noted that “input from the public helped us focus on where to begin,” but she added that “our goal is to meet the President’s deadline to process the entire backlog by the end of 2013.”

The plans may be viewed online. Additionally, comments about the plans or their implementation may be posted on the NDC blog [http://blogs.archives.gov/ndc] or e-mail to ndc@nara.gov. Progress updates and new release highlights will also be posted on the web site and announced on the blog.

The National Declassification Center, located at the National Archives College Park, MD facility, was established in accordance with Executive Order 13526, by Archivist David S. Ferriero on December 30, 2009. Its mission is to align people, processes, and technologies to advance the declassification and public release of historically valuable permanent records while maintaining national security. The initial focus will be to clear the backlog of referrals in reviewed documents both in Federal records and in Presidential materials.

For more press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (202) 357-5300. Visit the NDC online [www.archives.gov/declassification/].

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