National Archives Signed Deal w/Air Force to Disguise Re-review of Open Files & Mislead Researchers on Reasons for Withdrawing Previously Open Records

I know most people have been aware that the Bush administration has been reclassifying tons of documents that were already declassified. It has bothered a number of government employees as well as some on the Hill. It did not make sense when it first started coming out, and it continues to not make sense. But, what are you going to do, right?

Now, I read this, which reallly pisses me off.

Washington D.C., 11 April 2006 - The National Archives and Records Administration secretly agreed to a covert effort, led by the Air Force, the CIA, and other still-hidden intelligence entities, to remove open-shelf archival records and reclassify them while disguising the results so that researchers would not complain, according to a previously secret Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The secret agreement, made between the Air Force and the National Archives, was declassified pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive and posted on the NARA website yesterday.

[snip]

"This secret agreement reveals nothing less than a covert operation to white-out the nation's history, aided and abetted by the National Archives," said National Security Archive executive director Thomas Blanton.