It will basically cripple the declassification program by driving it in circles. Present efforts to lift the veil of government secrecy are driven by an executive order President Clinton signed in 1995. April 2000 - classified records that contain historical material and are more than 25 years old. Exceptions are narrowly defined. In the past three years, more than 600 million pages have been declassified.
Subjects range from the Cold War to Vietnam, POWs to UFOs.
Researchers are rewriting history with new information about the U.S.-Soviet arms race, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, a 1973 coup in Chile, covert action around the globe, and more. The public already can access 400 million pages that have been unsealed. Another 200 million pages are declassified, but are not yet on public shelves. Nearly 1 billion more pages still must be reviewed. This year, after a government scientist suspected of giving nuclear secrets to China was fired in March for alleged security violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, lawmakers sought even tougher scrutiny.