The National Declassification Center (NDC)

NDC - Releasing All We Can, Protecting What We Must

The NDC released its latest Bi-annual Report:

Bi-annual Report on Operations of the National Declassification Center (January 1, 2012 – June 30, 2012) [PDF Format ]

The NDC has released a listing of 237 separate entries that have completed declassification processing between May 23 and July 5, 2012 and are now available for researcher request. This release consists primarily of military records.

Highlights include:

Navy records relating to the underwater search for a missing thermonuclear bomb near Palomares Spain,
Department of State Post Files from Australia and France,
Office of the Secretary of Defense records relating to research into medical aspects of atomic warfare,
Office of the Secretary of Defense records relating to the Cuban Missile crisis,
Office of the Secretary of Defense, Advance Research Projects Agency records relating to “Project VELA”,
Army Assistant Chief of Staff records relating to civil disturbances in the 1960s,
Army Command Files for the 4th and 3rd Army, and
Air Force records from Wright-Patterson, Langley, Patrick, and Andrews Air Force Bases.

Requests to access the newly released records or to order copies should be directed to Archives 2 Reference at 301-837-3510 or archives2reference@nara.gov.

(When making a request, please cite the HMS Entry and Series Title.)

Participate in the NDC Prioritization Plans:

Comment on the Plan: ndc@nara.gov
What is the Prioritization Plan?

The National Declassification Center (NDC) was created when President Obama signed the new Executive Order released by the White House on December 29, 2009.

NDC began operations in early January 2010 under the direction of Dr. Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for Records Services, Washington. Initially, the NDC will focus on the following:

timely and appropriate processing of referrals between agencies for accessioned Federal records and transferred Presidential Records;
general interagency declassification activities necessary to fulfill the requirements of sections 3.3 and 3.4 of this order;
the exchange among agencies of detailed declassification guidance to support equity recognition;
the development of effective, transparent, and standard declassification work processes, training, and quality assurance measures;
the development of solutions to declassification challenges posed by electronic records, special media, and emerging technologies;
the linkage and effective utilization of existing agency databases and the use of new technologies to support declassification activities under the purview of the Center

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