We Shouldn’t Stop With Increasing Public Access to Classified Historical Records

President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell, announcing his plan to release every single JFK file.

"It's all going to be released."

He revealed that this massive disclosure will also include files related to Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and other figures of… pic.twitter.com/UmAp6m4S5H

— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) January 19, 2025

… significant historical interest, promising it will happen in the coming days.

As a member of the Public Interest Declassification Board, I can say without a doubt that President Trump’s commitment and focus on greater public access to classified historical records is a breath of fresh air.

— Ezra A. Cohen (@EzraACohen) January 19, 2025

We shouldn’t stop with increasing public access to classified historical records.

We must also reduce over classification of NEW records.

This starts with creating a centralized initiative to 1) create a single classification guide for all of government. 2) use an algorithm…

— Ezra A. Cohen (@EzraACohen) January 19, 2025

… to classify new records based on the single classification guide.

The Biden Administration and the National Archives did nothing but stare at the problem for the last four years.