National Archives: Public Interest Declassification Board’s Virtual Public Meeting

Register Now! Jamie Gorelick and Philip Zelikow Set to Speak at the PIDB’s Virtual Public Meeting on May 18, from 1:00-2:30 p.m.

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The meeting will include discussions of records relating to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001 (9/11), by former 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick and 9/11 Commission Executive Director Phillip Zelikow. David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, will provide opening remarks and PIDB members will provide brief commentary. The members have allotted time for questions.
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About the Board
The Public Interest Declassification Board is an advisory board established by Congress to promote the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and activities. The Board’s mandate includes advising the President and other government officials on policies deriving from the issuance by the President of Executive orders regarding the classification and declassification of national security information. The current members are:

Ezra Cohen (Chair)

On January 11, 2021, President Donald J. Trump appointed Ezra Cohen to a three-year term on the Board and designated him to serve as Chair for a two-year term. Prior to his appointment to the Board, Mr. Cohen served in senior leadership positions at the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community, most recently as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security and Director for Defense Intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence from November 2020 to January 2021. In this role, he exercised authority, direction, and control over the Defense Intelligence Enterprise and Combat Support Agencies. Additionally, he served as the principal civilian intelligence advisor to the Secretary of Defense on all military intelligence related matters, including signals intelligence, human intelligence, sensitive activities, geospatial intelligence, sensitive reconnaissance, counterintelligence, law enforcement, and security. His previous government positions include Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC); Principal Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counter-Narcotics and Global Threats; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council; Deputy Defense Intelligence Officer for South Asia at the Defense Intelligence Agency; and as a DoD Operations Officer. Mr. Cohen began his government service as an intern researching 1820’s tariff legislation in the Center for Legislative Archives, a part of the National Archives and Record Administration. Mr. Cohen has also worked in the private sector for Oracle Corporation. Mr. Cohen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Hon. Ezra Cohen
Chairman
Public Interest Declassification Board
c/o Information Security Oversight Office
National Archives & Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Room 100
Washington, D.C. 20408-0001

Re: President John F. Kennedy Records Collection Act

Dear Mr. Cohen:

We, the undersigned, respectfully request that the Public Interest Declassification Board (“PIDB”) add to its proposed agenda for its upcoming public meeting scheduled for May 17, 2021, the topic of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act of 1992 (“JFK Act”), 44 U.S.C. § 2107 (Supp. V. 1994) and related declassification issues.

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Thread: Ezra Cohen is in the Kennedy Grandkids "Timber" video