These 'Almost Criminal' Mistakes Have Been Made In Release Of JFK Files: Witness

2 days ago

John Davisson, Senior Counsel and Director of Litigation at EPIC, delivers his opening statement at Tuesday's House Oversight hearing on the JFK files.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Chairwoman Luna, Ranking Member Garcia, and members of the Task Force, thank you for the

00:08opportunity to testify today about the privacy, transparency, and accountability issues raised

00:13by the recent release of documents from the President Kennedy assassination records collection.

00:18My name is John Davison, and I am the Director of Litigation and Senior Counsel at the Electronic

00:22Privacy Information Center, or EPIC. EPIC is an independent nonprofit research organization

00:27established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the

00:32information age. As this Task Force knows well, the assassination of President Kennedy

00:38was an event of surpassing historical and political significance, one that has engendered

00:42more than 60 years of investigation, analysis, and debate.

00:47Today's hearing highlights the critical role that open government laws, and in particular

00:51the JFK Records Act, have played in informing that discourse. As the Supreme Court has written,

00:57open government laws are one of the key mechanisms for holding the governors accountable to the

01:01governed. With that in mind, Congress has rightly established a robust array of public

01:06disclosure requirements for federal entities, including the Freedom of Information Act,

01:10the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the JFK Records Act.

01:15Having spent decades to secure the transparency of government records, EPIC firmly supports

01:20the objectives of the JFK Records Act and the fulfillment of its disclosure mandate.

01:25But given that many federal records contain sensitive personal information, Congress has

01:30also made it clear that government transparency must be balanced with the protection of privacy.

01:35Disclosing personal information is inherently invasive and can expose individuals to a broad

01:40spectrum of secondary harms, including identity theft, fraud, reputational harm, psychological

01:46harm, stalking, harassment, doxing, and vigilantism.

01:50Accordingly, the FOIA, the FACA, and the JFK Records Act all establish that the disclosure

01:55of records is not required to the extent that such dissemination would constitute an unwarranted

02:00invasion of personal privacy. Together with the Privacy Act, these provisions ensure in

02:06principle that the federal government only disseminates personal information to the extent

02:10that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the privacy interest of the individual to

02:14whom the information pertains.

02:17To fulfill this dual mandate of transparency and privacy protection, federal agencies consistently

02:21conduct a detailed review of documents prior to release, redacting personal information

02:27or sometimes withholding records in full where disclosure would cause unwarranted privacy

02:31harm. For example, when processing FOIA requests, the National Archives is ordinarily careful

02:36to withhold records about a living individual that, if released, would cause a clearly unwarranted

02:40invasion of personal privacy.

02:43In the past, NARA has also conducted extensive reviews of documents subject to the JFK Records

02:48Act to identify and request the withholding of any Social Security numbers or financial

02:53information of living persons. By all appearances, these procedures and safeguards were completely

02:58bypassed in last month's hurried release of 60,000 pages from the JFK Records collection,

03:03which led to the public disclosure of Social Security numbers and other private information

03:08of more than 400 former congressional staffers and other former officials, some of them still

03:13living.

03:15The shocking violation of privacy has compounded a national trauma and distracted from Congress'

03:19stated goal of informing the public through the JFK Records Act. Security experts, as

03:25well as those directly harmed by the breach, have deemed it outrageous, sloppy, unprofessional,

03:30astonishing, foolish, incompetent, egregious, almost criminal, and a breach of a first-grade

03:37elementary-level rule of security. NARA has reportedly begun to reach out to individuals

03:42affected by the breach, and the White House has promised free credit monitoring services

03:47and new Social Security numbers to those affected. But these steps are too little, too late.

03:51The bell can't be unrung.

03:54There are several lessons to draw from this episode. First, Congress has mandated that

03:58agencies take steps to prevent unwarranted invasions of privacy resulting from records

04:02disclosures for good reason. This incident illustrates why those procedures must be followed,

04:08even when logistically or politically inconvenient. Congress should explore updates to the

04:12FOIA, the Privacy Act, and other Federal records statutes to ensure that such procedures

04:17are both readily enforceable and followed without exception.

04:20Second, while prompt disclosure of public records is essential, fire drills that make

04:25it impossible to ensure the redaction of sensitive personal information are a threat to privacy

04:29and to the public. Although it is difficult to see how any agency could have completed

04:33an ongoing review of 60,000 pages within the 24 hours abruptly allotted, this incident

04:39serves as a reminder of the need to adequately fund public records offices throughout the

04:43Federal Government to ensure that they can carry out their weighty and growing responsibilities

04:48in a timely fashion.

04:51Third, this breach, while deeply serious, is a drop in the bucket compared to the wrongful

04:55disclosure of personal information now occurring within and between Federal agencies. Failing

05:00to rein in the ongoing governmentwide misuse of systems of records by largely unaccountable

05:05actors risks far more dangerous consequences.

05:08Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

These 'Almost Criminal' Mistakes Have Been Made In Release Of JFK Files: Witness

Category

Transcript

Recommended