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National Declassification Center Director Named

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero recently announced the appointment of Sheryl Jasielum Shenberger as the first director of the National Archives National Declassification Center (NDC). Her appointment is effective June 7, 2010.

On December 30, 2009, Archivist Ferriero announced the establishment of the National Declassification Center (NDC) within the National Archives and Records Administration. The creation of the NDC was mandated in Executive Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information signed by President Obama on December 29. Specifically, the NDC is charged with streamlining declassification processes, facilitating quality assurance measures, and implementing standard training for declassification reviewers. The executive order requires NARA to completely eliminate the approximately 408 million page backlog of records awaiting declassification by December 31, 2013.

Ms. Shenberger comes to the National Archives from the intelligence community where she served both as an analyst and desk officer. She has also worked closely with the National Archives, the intelligence community, and Department of Defense agencies to coordinate review of historically valuable records that contain CIA information. She also led the CIA’s declassification review efforts at the National Archives. As a declassification program manager at the CIA, she spearheaded efforts to improve processes that resulted in a more efficient release of information.

Ms. Shenberger is currently a Branch Chief of the CIA Declassification Center and is responsible for its 25-year review and referral program and for coordinating government-wide review of Presidential Library referrals through the Remote Archives Capture (RAC) project. From 2003 through 2006, she served as team chief for the CIA declassification efforts at NARA, where she was responsible for directing CIA review efforts with NARA and collaborating with NARA to improve declassification processes.

Prior to working in the declassification field, Ms. Shenberger served as a Branch Chief in the CIA Counter Terrorism Center between 2001 and 2003, as a Desk Officer with the CIA Crime and Narcotics Center between 2000 and 2001, and as a Senior Imagery Analyst for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency between 1996 and 2000.

Ms. Shenberger is a graduate of Villanova University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1979, and of North Carolina State University where she received a Master of Arts degree in English in 1983.

Read entire article at Lee White at the National Coalition for History