Richard T Eger
09-05-2003, 11:23 AM
From within a thread on 12 O'Clock High!:
Rabe Anton
Classified USAAF Documents
Tue Aug 26 03:48:13 2003
205.188.208.101
Dénes,
I have not read the background links to yours or earlier postings here. After 15 years as an Air Force archivist and as a frequent researcher in the National Archives, I think I can safely say that no USAAF Personal Encounter Reports (PERs), Operational Summaries ("mission reports"),
Missing Aircrew Reports (MACRs), or Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPFs) remain classified today. Almost all of these materials, in fact, have been declassified since the 1960s. As always, one must ask, Why should such documents be classified in the year 2003? Normally, there are only three possible reasons for lingering classification of World War II documents, none of which seem to apply here: (1) documents contain information about nuclear weapons (Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information (CNWDI) (2) documents contain human intelligence (HUMINT) (3) there simply has been a lack of resources to review the material and remove the classification markings.
RA
Rabe Anton
Classified USAAF Documents
Tue Aug 26 03:48:13 2003
205.188.208.101
Dénes,
I have not read the background links to yours or earlier postings here. After 15 years as an Air Force archivist and as a frequent researcher in the National Archives, I think I can safely say that no USAAF Personal Encounter Reports (PERs), Operational Summaries ("mission reports"),
Missing Aircrew Reports (MACRs), or Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPFs) remain classified today. Almost all of these materials, in fact, have been declassified since the 1960s. As always, one must ask, Why should such documents be classified in the year 2003? Normally, there are only three possible reasons for lingering classification of World War II documents, none of which seem to apply here: (1) documents contain information about nuclear weapons (Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information (CNWDI) (2) documents contain human intelligence (HUMINT) (3) there simply has been a lack of resources to review the material and remove the classification markings.
RA