Looking back at “America’s Secrets: Classified Information and Our Democracy”

Feb 07, 2023

We kicked off the event with the PIDB’s first public hearing of 2023 and their first in-person hearing since 2020. The board considered critical and urgent need for modernization of the federal system for classification and declassification of documents and welcomed guest speaker Evan Gottesman, Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Following the hearing, we hosted “An Evening with Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence.” Director Haines discussed the importance of reforming the current classification system, noting that the government’s over-classification of documents has led to a lack of trust from the public and has negatively impacted national security. The DNI is committed to improving the current classification system. Director Haines noted “The ODNI and the intelligence community are ready to roll their sleeves up and work with you on this issue.” Director Haines also touched on several topics in the news, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, TikTok and the black-market import of Fentanyl. While Director Haines was visiting the Forty Acres, she also attended a meeting with Graduate and Undergraduate Fellows from the Clements and Strauss Centers and met with UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell.

The following day, we convened a full-day conference on the role of document declassification in transparency, oversight, education, and public trust in our national security institutions. The conference started with a panel on the complicated relationship between scholars and documents, followed by a discussion on technology’s role in declassifying documents. We finished the morning with a panel on the future of presidential libraries, an important stakeholder that is involved in storage, archiving and declassification. Our keynote event featured a conversation with Senator John Cornyn and Clements Center Executive Director Will Inboden on declassification, transparency, and the importance of Section 702. Senator Cornyn and Inboden discussed the importance of intelligence sharing between the United States and Ukraine in their conflict with Russia, observing that China should know that democracies around the world will come together and support countries fending off invasion, like Ukraine. On Section 702, Cornyn noted that it is “the crown jewel of the intelligence community but members of Congress need reassurance that it won’t be abused. We need to declassify some evidence of [Section 702’s] success to underscore its importance.” While visiting the LBJ Library, Senator Cornyn sat down with our students for a discussion on information transparency. We finished the day with panels on the media’s role in government transparency and the experience and perspectives of government historians and archivists.

Check out some of the press coverage of the “America’s Secrets: Classified Information and Our Democracy” conference:

Calls mount to curb classification, Politico

Privacy Fears, Abuse Allegations Jeopardize Foreign Surveillance Tool, Wall Street Journal

Top intelligence official defends herself over ‘stonewalling’ accusations around Biden classified documents, Washington Examiner

U.S. intel chief warns of ‘devastating’ impact of Russian missile attacks, Yahoo News

Growing Standoff Emerges Between Senate Intel And Biden Admin Over Classified Docs, Daily Wire

Director of National Intelligence, Texas Senator discuss classified documents and security threats surrounding TikTok, The Daily Texan

Declassification conference at LBJ Library Friday, KXAN

Conference on Classified Materials, National Security & Transparency, C-SPAN

The National Intelligence Director: Over-Classification Undermines Democracy, Government Executive

PIDB writeup panel