Public Interest Declassification Board

The Public Interest Declassification Board is an advisory committee established by Congress in order to promote the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and activities. The Board is composed of nine individuals, five appointed by the President and one each by the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House as well as the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate. Appointees are to be U.S. citizens who are preeminent in the fields of history, national security, foreign policy, intelligence policy, social science, law, or archives.

The board advises the President of the United States about issues pertaining to national classification and declassification policy. Section 1102 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 extended and modified the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) as established by the Public Interest Declassification Act of 2000 Public Law 106-567 .

The Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), J. William Leonard serves as the PIDB Executive Secretary and the ISOO staff provides staff support on a reimbursable basis.

Functions

• Advises the President and other executive branch officials on the systematic, thorough, coordinated, and comprehensive identification, collection, review for declassification, and release of declassified records and materials that are of archival value, including records and materials of extraordinary public interest.
• Promotes the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and significant U.S. national security activities in order to: support the oversight and legislative functions of Congress; support the policymaking role of the executive branch; respond to the interest of the public in national security matters; and promote reliable historical analysis and new avenues of historical study in national security matters.
• Provides recommendations to the President for the identification, collection, and review for declassification of information of extraordinary public interest that does not undermine the national security of the U.S.
• Advises the President and other executive branch officials on policies deriving from the issuance by the President of Executive orders regarding the classification and declassification of national security information.
• Reviews and makes recommendations to the President with respect to any congressional request, made by the committee of jurisdiction, to declassify certain records or to reconsider a declination to declassify specific records.

Bylaws

The purpose of the Public Interest Declassification Board bylaws is to specify and establish the authority, membership, meetings, voting, and other procedures as they pertain to the board. The bylaws also describe the procedures for handling congressional requests to declassify certain records. The bylaws outline the PIDB's responsibilty to report to Congress as well as making recommendations to the Preseident about policy.