Out of the black

Jeffrey Richelson

National Security Archive has published a collection of documents concerning the declassification decision and its implementation. The NRO and NRP were established in 1961 to coordinate the satellite reconnaissance activities of the CIA and Air Force. As the documents illustrate, the issue of NRO declassification was considered as early as 1973. The documents further show that DCI Stansfield Turner (1977-1981) concluded that the fact of NRO and NRP existence did not meet the test of classification. As a result, Turner included declassification as part of a plan to revise the system of handling Sensitive Compartmented Information but that plan was not implemented before the Carter administration was replaced by the Reagan administration, nor thereafter. The documents also portray the process of declassification that was set in motion in 1992 due to a variety of factors. The memos...