On July 17, the National Archives and Records Administration released the draft revision of its 10-year strategic plan, Preserving the Past to Protect the Future: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration, 2006-2016.  The plan incorporates some key changes advocated by the open government community and is open for public comment until August 5.

Included in this strategy is the establishment of a National Declassification Center and recognition of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) as one tool in a larger electronic records program.  The strategy also mentions the opportunity to use Web 2.0 social media tools to “operate more transparently and to interact with our users in new, more informal ways.”

The strategy document states that a National Declassification Center would “make declassification secure but also routine, efficient, and cost-effective.”  This measure was recommended by the Public Interest Declassification Board in 2007 in order to streamline the declassification process.  However, this recommendation has been met with some criticism during the recent online discussion at the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s online forum on declassification.  Some felt that it was a distraction from the real issue at hand – the underlying declassification policies – while others offered specific recommendations as to what such a center should do.

If you plan to offer comments to NARA concerning the strategy update then you may want to look at the declassification discussion since it offers many ideas that directly relate to changes needed at the Archives.

Send comments via e-mail to vision@nara.gov or by fax (301) 837-0319 by August 5.