Tuesday, September 08, 2009

For two decades, Malcolm Byrne has made the secrets of the federal government public. On Monday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m., Byrne, deputy director and director of research for the National Security Archive, will share "confidential" government information and discuss the importance of access to information and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Randall Library Auditorium.

Byrne's talk, "'Phantoms of Lost Liberty?': The National Security Archive and the Politics of Freedom of Information," is part of UNC Wilmington's celebration of U.S. Constitution Day, Sept. 17, sponsored by Randall Library and the Division of Academic Affairs. This event is free and open to the public.

The archive is a non-governmental research institute and library founded in 1985 to obtain, publish and preserve declassified documents acquired through the FOIA and other methods. Now housed at George Washington University, the non-profit archive fights for access to the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available.

Documents excavated by the archive are quoted in international and national newspapers, books and documentary films. The Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam War, the fall of the Soviet Union and the war with Iraq are a sampling the world-changing situations of which the Archive has uncovered details. More information about the National Security Archive: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/the_archive.html

Byrne currently directs the archive's Openness in Russia and Eastern Europe Project and the U.S.-Iran Relations Project and previously served as co-director of the Iran-Contra Documentation Project. He often serves as an expert in national media outlets, and his articles have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications. He is available for personal media interviews by request after noon Monday, Sept. 14.

Media contact:
Joy Davis, UNCW marketing and communications, 910.916.8603 or davisjc@uncw.edu