Following sharp criticism from a number of historians and national security experts, the National Archives has issue a moratorium on a massive reclassification program that came to light recently. Since the late 1990s, government agencies have been removing declassified documents from the shelves of the National Archives and considering them for reclassification. Since many of the documents are publicly available--some have even been publicly published by the State Department and are for sale at Amazon.com-- historians and national security experts questioned justifications for reclassifying the documents. The Reclassification Program In a Feb. 21 National Security Archives report, Matthew M. Aid disclosed the scope of the reclassification program. The program's inception followed a 1995 executive order issued by President Clinton that required government agencies to declassify all historical records that were 25 years or older, with certain national security exceptions. In 1998, fearing that many of the documents released were of a sensitive nature, agencies initiated a broad re-review of all national security documents on the open shelves of the National Archives. The program is expected to run until 2007 and, to date, over 55,000 pages of documents have been reclassified. Most of these documents are from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Department, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Justice (DOJ), and State Department, often including non-sensitive information and sometimes dating back to World War II. It was not until this year that the public, Congress or even some high-level members of the National Archives were made aware of the massive scope of the reclassification effort. Unlike other similar efforts, Congress did not authorized the intelligence agencies to undertake the program, nor has there been an executive order, or any appropriated money for this expensive effort, estimated to be in the seven digits. The Problem Aid's report details the number of documents reclassified and gives a sampling of some of the curious decisions to reclassify. Apparently, 7,711 State Department documents, totaling 29,479 pages, have been removed from the National Archives. The Office of the Secretary of Defense has had 478 documents (13,689 pages) removed, and the Air Force has had 282 documents (5,552 pages) removed. Many of the documents date back to World War II, where as other documents concern completely innocuous and sometimes embarrassing details. In one reclassified document, the CIA criticizes the State Department for not notifying them about certain details regarding anti-American riots in Bogotá, Columbia. Given that the document dates from 1948, there does not appear to be any legitimate, current national security concerns discussed in the document. In another reclassified document from 1950, the CIA mistakenly argues that China will not enter the Korean War. Again, no sensitive national security details are revealed, though the document could be seen as portraying the CIA in a negative light, since China entered the war a mere two weeks later. There seems to be a utter lack of policy or criteria for determining which documents qualify for reclassification in the extensive re-review. Slate reports that some junior reviewers were instructed to "simply reclassify anything bearing the words 'atomic' or 'restricted data,' regardless of what else the document might or might not contain." This overly broad and vague approach to reclassification is similar to the ongoing over-restriction of information in poorly defined categories for Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information. Oversight and Review On March 2, the National Archives announced a formal moratorium and review of the reclassification program. The investigation involves a review of National Archive classification procedures to prevent over-classification mistakes from occurring. The National Archives has requested that agencies release "the maximum amount of information consistent with the obligation to protect truly sensitive national security information from unauthorized disclosure." In addition to these National Archive actions, the House has stepped in to conduct oversight of the program. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee, announced his intentions to hold hearings on the program on March 14.