Disclosures delayed

Millions of intelligence documents scheduled for release will remain classified, White House officials said. The documents, which are at least 25 years old, were set to be disclosed on Dec. 31, under President Obama’s pledge of greater transparency. But some agencies failed to review the material in time, and others are resisting disclosure.

Faced with these complications, the White House has given the agencies more time to respond; no firm deadlines have been set. “If binding deadlines can be extended more or less at will,” complained government-openness advocate Steven Aftergood, “then any new declassification requirements will be similarly subject to doubt

or defiance.”