Reprinted from dissenter.firedoglake.com
The inspector general for the CIA conducted a review of whether the agency was keeping information secret that should be public and found "no instances of over-classification."
The Reducing Over-Classification Act, signed into law on October 7, 2010, requires the inspector general for each United States department or agency with an officer who makes classification decisions to evaluate whether information is being appropriately classified. The inspector general is also to assess policies, procedures, rules, regulations, etc, to reduce "persistent misclassification of material." This is to be done in "consultation" with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO).
Through the Freedom of Information Act, The Huffington Post obtained a copy [PDF] of the CIA inspector general's report on classification of information at the agency, which is dated September 26, 2013.
"We found no instance of over-classification in the sample of [REDACTED] finished intelligence reports that we reviewed," the report indicates, with no awareness of the bitter irony of this statement. Either the CIA cannot risk America's adversaries learning how many "finished intelligence reports" were reviewed because they might use this detail for some terrorist algorithm for their next plot or else this should be considered information that is being over-classified.
It goes on to note that a CIA "self-inspection report" has a section of the report for "addressing security violations" and "states that the number of violations by CIA employees continues to be relatively low." The report "does not cite the number of security violations that occurred" in 2012. It does not say whether the number of violations increased or decreased "over previous years.
Also, the CIA "chose not to evaluate declassification actions" in this report but provided "no explanation for that decision." In other words, it did not bother to inspect whether it is appropriately declassifying information that should not be kept secret.
All the recommendations in the inspector general report are censored. They all address how the CIA can better mark information that the agency classifies and for some unclear reason that is sensitive information that if released would help the terrorists win.
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