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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 14, 1994

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

In an important step towards creating a more open and accountable government for all Americans, President Clinton signed today an Executive Order authorizing the National Archives to declassify a selected group of record amounting to 43.9 million pages. This bulk declassification represents approximately 14 percent of the National Archives' holdings of classified material.

The documents represent almost all the classified holdings dating from World War II and before. In addition, nearly 23 million pages of documents relating to the Vietnam War, Naval Operating Forces, and the records of the Headquarters, U.S. Air Force also have been declassified by this Order.

The declassified documents offer a wealth of insight into some of the most important military events of our recent history, and will be of great value to military historians, researchers, veterans, and ordinary citizens alike.

The Executive Order underscores the President's commitment to address the backlog of some 325 million pages of records now stored at the National Archives and hundreds of millions more held in agencies throughout the Executive branch.

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