Prying Government Secrets Loose

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It was a boon for journalism and democracy when, in 1985, the National Security Archivewas founded for the purpose of bringing classified government documents about topics of public interest, such as nuclear weapons, covert operations, foreign diplomacy and human rights, to light. Since 1995, thanks to an initiative spearheaded by George Washington University President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, the archive has been housed in Gelman Library.

Inside the archive's suite on Gelman's seventh floor, almost every room is stuffed with boxes full of documents containing information that used to be classified. A few of these eye-opening papers are displayed in a series of frames on a wall near the entrance.

Side by side on the wall, there's a set of identical email exchanges from 1987 between William Cockell Jr., a former executive secretary of the National Security Council, and Colin Powell, then deputy national security advisor. One version, from Powell's inbox, and one from Cockell's outbox, were reviewed 10 days apart by the same declassification reviewer from the Security Council in response to a lawsuit by the archive. Surprisingly, each version contains different redactions.

"The subjectivity of so much of national security secrecy is one of the reasons we exist as an institution, to keep pushing against reflexive, bureaucratic sensitivities" said Tom Blanton, director of the archive. "One of the main reasons we were founded by historians and journalists back in 1985 was to pursue this kind of stuff."

Another frame on the wall contains a page from a Guatemalan death squad diary, a report with photographs and information describing the victims-men and women who were labor organizers or associated with left-wing groups-and their deaths.

"Each of these people was murdered by a Guatemalan death squad," Blanton said. "Why were such records kept? Well, why did the Nazis keep records? Because if you don't keep records, if you don't have the orders, then you're just a murderer. But if you follow the orders, you're 'saving your national security,' you're 'protecting the state,' you're 'doing your patriotic duty.'"

Even the conference room is crowded with boxes, stuffed with documents rescued from the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan policy forum, after it was closed by Elon Musk's advisory agency DOGE. When staff members at the center were suddenly relieved of their jobs, Blanton said, a "bucket brigade" was formed by GW students, who carried the boxes down from the eighth floor of the Reagan Building to a rental van and hauled them to the archive. Five of these boxes contain important records of Joseph Stalin's diplomatic conversations.

Walker Gargagliano, M.A. '25, is one of the GW students who rescued documents from the Wilson Center for the National Security Archive, where he works as a research assistant while pursuing his Ph.D. in history. (William Atkins/GW Today)

One of the invaluable services the archive provides is compiling a selection of electronic briefing books containing documents on a key issue or moment, such as the circumstances surrounding President George H. W. Bush's joining multilateral climate negotiations. (This e-book, "The U.S. and Climate Change," shows why Bush thought it was important for national security to agree to restrict pollutant emissions.) Some 900 of these e-books have been compiled to date, including titles such as "Ronald Reagan: Climate Hero" and "Che Guevara and the CIA in the Mountains of Bolivia," and may be viewed for free online.

Examples from the more ridiculous side of government classification may be viewed in the archive's e-book compilation of "Dubious Secrets." But sometimes government secrecy is justified.

"We agree with the government that there are real secrets that have to be protected," Blanton said, "because people can get killed. Documents deserve to be classified if they would give an advantage to an adversary. Weapon systems, for instance-we don't want North Korea to build a better missile. But in our experience over time, especially with historical records, after five or 10 years, it's probably under 10% that really deserves to be secret for the long haul."

In theory, Blanton said, nothing need be classified forever. An exception might be data from 80 years ago when nuclear scientists were at work on the Manhattan Project.

"I could understand the government wanting to keep that secret," Blanton said, "because there might be other would-be bomb builders in the world who would gain something from knowing why we didn't pursue a particular path."

Despite the vagaries apparent in government classification, Blanton said, there are people of integrity in government doing their best to apply the records laws. Unfortunately, with recent reductions in resources and staffing, fewer are tasked with keeping up with requests for the growing flood of government information. The amount of such information has increased exponentially with the growth of the digital sphere.

Each year Blanton teaches GW Lawstudents how to use the Freedom of Information Act as part of litigation strategy. Some GW faculty members send their classes to the archive in connection with their coursework. Mark Croatti, a lecturer in the Department of Political Sciencewithin the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, said his students invariably find the experience fascinating and that it gives them a good sense of working in an intelligence-related career.

"I want students to know that making a Freedom of Information Act request always has the potential to bring valuable information into the public domain," Croatti said, "and also to know how much information has already been made public thanks to the hard work of the National Security Archive."

Curious about Elvis Presley's visit to the Nixon White House? Want to learn more about the U.S. role in the overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973? Students frequently contact the archive as part of their research, as do professional writers in search of information for use in books or articles.

"We often have something that would help them," Blanton said. "We then say to them, 'OK, you're out there working on your book. What are you finding? When you interview people, are you asking if they've got any documents in their basement?'"

Archive staff file numerous requests under the Freedom of Information Act, not as broad fishing expeditions, but searching for specific documents that we know about from other sources, Blanton said. Recently, the archive received documents pertaining to conversations between Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush. Sometimes, when requests are refused, or if the response takes too long, the archive files a lawsuit-but only if the documents are particularly important.

"We're not saying these documents are the truth," Blanton said, "but they're evidence. A good researcher or journalist has to interrogate that document. Who wrote it? Why did they write it? Who was supposed to read it? Who actually did read it? Why was it classified? Was there real damage to national security if this was released? Or is it just embarrassment? These are some of the questions that we ask of a primary source when we break it loose."

About 20 full-time staff members keep the archive functioning, for an annual budget of approximately $3 million, which comes from foundations as well as private donors. Last year, the organization celebrated its 40th anniversary, and its 30th year on GW's Foggy Bottom campus.

"Kudos to Steve Trachtenberg for bringing us here," Blanton said, characterizing the ongoing relationship between the archive and GW as mutually beneficial.

"It's a two-way street," he said. "The archive has enriched the GW educational experience, and we've gained from having all those students come through asking good questions, working for us as interns or research assistants, or as students in classes we've taught. Our website draws folks on the internet to learn about the university."

Students interested in internships with the archive can apply at this link.