Aftergood, Steven
Biography
Steven Aftergood directs the Project on Government Secrecy, which works to reduce the scope of official secrecy and to promote public access to government information.
He writes Secrecy News, an email newsletter (and blog) which reports on new developments in secrecy policy for more than 10,000 subscribers in media, government and among the general public.
In 1997, Mr. Aftergood was the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency which led to the declassification and publication of the total intelligence budget ($26.6 billion in 1997) for the first time in fifty years. In 2006, he won a FOIA lawsuit against the National Reconnaissance Office for release of unclassified budget records.
Mr. Aftergood is an electrical engineer by training (B.Sc., UCLA, 1977) and has published research in solid state physics. He joined the FAS staff in 1989.
He has authored or co-authored papers and essays in Scientific American, Science, New Scientist, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, and Issues in Science and Technology, on topics including space nuclear power, atmospheric effects of launch vehicles, and government information policy. For his work on confronting government secrecy, Mr. Aftergood has received the James Madison Award from the American Library Association (2006), the Public Access to Government Information Award from the American Association of Law Libraries (2006), and the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award from the Playboy Foundation (2004).
Publications:
Blog: Secrecy News
2011 February 4, Nature Medicine: Review of Classification Rules Represents an Opportunity, Even for Medicine (requires subscription)
2010 October 15, Foreign Policy: Telling Secrets
In the News:
Secrecy and Security News
Government Secrecy in the News - List of News Clips
FAS in the News - Complete list of News Clips
