Fort Worth SPJ: First Amendment Awards

Tom Blanton is director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A former newspaper reporter in Minnesota, he has used the Freedom of Information Act to provide for the public facts about the government’s deeds and misdeeds for more than 30 years.

The Archive maintains a vast library, accessible online, of declassified government documents. It was responsible for a decade of litigation that resulted in the CIA making public its “family jewels” in 2007, a trove of information that is searchable on the Archive’s web site.

Blanton helped make public Oliver North’s Iran-contra diaries and co-wrote a book about Iran-contra, “The Chronology.” He also wrote “White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan-Bush White House Tried to Destroy.”

An independent nongovernmental research institute and library, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. It also serves as a repository of government records on a range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence and economic policies of the United States. The Archive won the 1999 George Polk Award, one of U.S. journalism's most prestigious prizes, for, in the words of the citation, "piercing the self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in the search for the truth and informing us all." Blanton won the 1996 James Madison Award from the American Library Association for “defending the public’s right to know.”

The Archive's mission of guaranteeing the public's right to know extends to countries outside the United States. It is involved in efforts to sponsor freedom of information legislation in the nations of Central Europe, Central America and elsewhere, and is committed to finding ways to provide technical and other services that will allow libraries overseas to incorporate appropriate records management systems.

And Tom Blanton is in charge of the whole thing. On top of that, he’s a movie star. On April 11, 2008, he will address the 5th annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner. But before he starts talking, he intends to show footage of his appearance on the Comedy Channel’s “Colbert Report” concerning the big CIA revelations.

Some material from the National Security Archive.




				Tom Blanton in 2006, speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, the oldest functioning human rights organization in Russia.


			Tom Blanton is director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A former newspaper reporter in Minnesota, he has used the Freedom of Information Act to provide for the public facts about the government’s deeds and misdeeds for more than 30 years. The Archive maintains a vast library, accessible online, of declassified government documents. It was responsible for a decade of litigation that resulted in the CIA making public its “family jewels” in 2007, a trove of information that is searchable on the Archive’s web site. Blanton helped make public Oliver North’s Iran-contra diaries and co-wrote a book about Iran-contra, “The Chronology.” He also wrote “White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan-Bush White House Tried to Destroy.” An independent nongovernmental research institute and library, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. It also serves as a repository of government records on a range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence and economic policies of the United States. The Archive won the 1999 George Polk Award, one of U.S. journalism's most prestigious prizes, for, in the words of the citation, "piercing the self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in the search for the truth and informing us all." Blanton won the 1996 James Madison Award from the American Library Association for “defending the public’s right to know.” The Archive's mission of guaranteeing the public's right to know extends to countries outside the United States. It is involved in efforts to sponsor freedom of information legislation in the nations of Central Europe, Central America and elsewhere, and is committed to finding ways to provide technical and other services that will allow libraries overseas to incorporate appropriate records management systems. And Tom Blanton is in charge of the whole thing. On top of that, he’s a movie star. On April 11, 2008, he will address the 5th annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner. But before he starts talking, he intends to show footage of his appearance on the Comedy Channel’s “Colbert Report” concerning the big CIA revelations. Some material from the National Security Archive.