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Establishment of the Secretaries of Defense historical series and priority declassification authority

Division A · Title X: General Provisions · Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Authorities and Limitations

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The Department of Defense will create and publish a detailed, multi-volume history of major U.S. national security and defense decisions, organized by presidential administration. These volumes must be released within 30 years of the events they cover and will be made available to the public in unclassified form through official channels. The department will prioritize declassifying records needed for this history and ensure the office responsible has enough staff and resources to complete the work.

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Section Text · Sec. 1051.
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150. Publication of historical series

(a) Requirement

The Secretary of Defense shall prepare and publish, on an ongoing basis, a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary historical record of major United States national security and defense policy decisions and significant diplomatic and military activities of the Department of Defense. Such historical record shall be known as the Secretaries of Defense Historical Series (in this section referred to as the Series ), and shall—

(1)

consist of a comprehensive, multi-volume documentary and narrative history organized, to the extent practicable, by Presidential administration;

(2)

be based on all relevant records, including classified records;

(3)

present a thorough, objective, and scholarly historical record; and

(4)

include appropriate annotation, citations, and indexing to facilitate public and academic research.

(b) Timeliness requirement

The Secretary shall ensure that each volume of the Series is published not later than 30 years after the events documented, to the maximum extent practicable.

(c) Declassification priority

The Secretary shall—

(1)

ensure that records required for the preparation and publication of the Series receive priority for declassification review;

(2)

coordinate with the heads of other departments and agencies to ensure timely declassification of equities contained in such records; and

(3)

establish expedited procedures for interagency review of records associated with the Series.

(d) Public availability

(1)

Volumes of the Series shall be published in unclassified form to the greatest extent possible.

(2)

The Secretary shall make such volumes available to the public through—

(A)

the Government Publishing Office; and

(B)

a publicly accessible Department of Defense website.

(e) Relationship to other historical activities

The Series shall serve as the flagship historical publication of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office and shall complement other official Department of Defense historical programs.

(f) Resourcing

The Secretary shall ensure that the Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office is adequately resourced to carry out this section, including personnel dedicated to—

(1)

historical research and writing; and

(2)

declassification review and coordination.