Author: William C. Carpenter

On May 9, 2023, U.S. Government agency declassification officials and members of the public interested in Government information access processes met to discuss mandatory declassification review (MDR) requests and appeals. Mark A. Bradley, Director of the Information Security Oversight Office gave the opening remarks in which he discussed the role of the Interagency Security Classification … Continue reading MDR Forum Recording Now Available on NARA’s YouTube Channel

On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, the Information Security Oversight Office will host a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) Forum for the public and Federal agency declassification staff at the National Archives Building. The MDR Forum will include an update on the activity of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel and a discussion panel including representatives from … Continue reading MDR Forum Set for May 09, 2023 – Get Your Tickets Now!

In November 2020 the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) decided on appeal 2012-156, an appeal for 26 documents created by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, now in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration. These documents were declassified in January 2021 … Continue reading 9/11 Commission Records Declassified by the ISCAP

Recently the staff of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) posted a new declassified document on our website.  The document, posted in two parts due to its file size, is posted at https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/2012-071-doc-1-part-1.pdf and https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/2012-071-doc-1-part-2.pdf It is a report by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), dated July 31, 1984, entitled, "Soviet Doctrine for Chemical Warfare Against NATO … Continue reading Soviet Chemical Weapons and Redaction Realities

The newly declassified transcript of an oral history interview conducted in 1973 with United States Air Force scientist Doyle Northrup has been posted by the ISCAP Staff on its webpage. The document can be viewed here. The document, tracked as appeal 2015-107, is remarkable in two primary respects. First, it is a comprehensive first-person account of … Continue reading ISCAP Release Provides Oral History of Distinguished Career in Nuclear Detection Technology

ISCAP Resumes Posting of Declassified Documents In April 2021 the staff of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) resumed the posting on its website of documents the ISCAP declassified. The latest documents posted, from appeal 2011-003, are two National Intelligence Estimates concerning the space program of the Soviet Union in 1969 and 1971. The ISCAP voted … Continue reading ISCAP Resumes Posting of Declassified Documents

In July 2020 I posted a status update on the impact of the Government facility closures caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic on the work of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP). It has now been just over a year since those closures began. In the late summer of 2020, the leadership of the … Continue reading The Pandemic and ISCAP Operations – A One Year Update, March 2021

In April 2020, ISOO posted an announcement about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the operations of the ISCAP. Several months later, those conditions still apply.   The ISCAP membership are not meeting to adjudicate cases. The ISCAP Staff only have access to unclassified files. While the ISCAP staff is able to receive new appeals from … Continue reading Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel Status Update: July 2020