But what type of concrete actions would you suggest to minimize or even eliminate the overclassification problem?
Overclassification is repeatedly identified as a plaguing problem. It’s been that way for decades. Routinely senior govt officials will appear before Congress and admit that perhaps 50% of all classified information is overclassified, and perhaps should not have been classified ever at all. For example, many internal e-mails within certain intel agencies are classified automatically simply by sending them, regardless of whether the topic is about an asset or meeting at the Dunkin Donuts for coffee. Steps have been taken over the years such as requiring automatic declassification after 25 or 50 years, depending on the topic, but these are baby steps, especially since there are always exemptions/waivers that can be applied.
Agencies are also overwhelmed more and more by an increasing number of FOIA requests seeking declassification. The Internet has been both a positive (easier to submit) and a negative (easier to submit) in that regard. Clearly, agencies do not have enough staff or financial resources to take on all the declassification processing. Throwing money at the problem would be an easy fix of course.
But what type of concrete actions would you suggest to minimize or even eliminate the overclassification problem?