EPIC’s Davisson Testifies in Congress on JFK Records Privacy Breach

EPIC Director of Litigation John Davisson testified Tuesday before a working group of the House Oversight Committee on the privacy implications of last month’s disclosure of 60,000 pages from the federal archive of JFK assassination records. The disclosure, which broke from normal screening procedures used by the National Archives, caused the release of hundreds of Social Security numbers of people named in the records—many of whom are still living.

“Having spent decades fighting to secure the transparency of government records, EPIC firmly supports the objectives of the JFK Records Act and the fulfillment of its disclosure mandate,” Davisson told the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets in his written testimony. “But given that many federal records contain sensitive personal information, Congress has made it clear that government transparency must be balanced with the protection of privacy.”

“By all appearances, these procedures and safeguards were simply ignored in last month’s hurried release of 60,000 pages of documents from the JFK Assassination Records Collection, which led to the public disclosure of ‘Social Security numbers and other private information of more than 400 former congressional staffers’ and other officials,” Davisson added.

The hearing was broadcast on C-SPAN 3.