Public Interest Declassification Board cites JFK Records Act as a model

In a new study of the U.S. government's dysfunctional declassification system, the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) cited the JFK Records Act of 1992 as a model for effective release of information that interests the public. That's why the PIDB should make sure that the CIA declassifies 1,100 assassination-related documents by October 2017, their scheduled release date

"The report also notes in passing that the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Review Act mandated disclosure requirements for assassination-related records that were 'much more stringent' than those of past and current executive orders. There is perhaps an implicit suggestion that a similarly forthcoming approach could be adopted in other topical reviews."

The JFK Records Act is indeed a strong law, but lax enforcement by Congress and the National Archives have allowed the CIA to use the law, intended to force full disclosure, to delay it.

The PIDB s an advisory committee established by Congress in 2000, in order …