Steven Aftergood is a critic of U.S. government secrecy policy. He directs the

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who ...

project on Government Secrecy and is the author of the Federation publication ''

Secrecy News The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who wo ...

''.

Life and career

Aftergood has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

and has published research in

solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

. In 1991, Aftergood exposed the classified Project Timberwind, an unacknowledged

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

special access program to develop a

nuclear thermal rocket A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction, often nuclear fission, replaces the chemical energy of the rocket propellant, propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, us ...

. That episode led the

to initiate an ongoing research project on government secrecy, led by Aftergood.

Controversies

Intelligence budget disclosure

Aftergood was the plaintiff in a 1997

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

lawsuit against the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

which led to the

declassification Declassification is the process of ceasing a protective classification, often under the principle of freedom of information. Procedures for declassification vary by country. Papers may be withheld without being classified as secret, and event ...

and publication of the U.S. government's total intelligence budget ($26.6 billion in 1997) for the first time in fifty years. In 2006, Aftergood won a FOIA lawsuit against the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. ...

to release unclassified budget records.

Preserving CIA email

proposal in 2014 to eliminate the email records of all but 22 senior Agency officials was derailed after a reference to the move was spotted by Aftergood, triggering a critical reaction in Congress and elsewhere. The proposal was formally withdrawn by the Agency in 2016.

Reducing nuclear weapons secrecy

As part of an effort by the

to reduce secrecy surrounding

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

, Aftergood acquired and posted a 2019 Joint Chiefs of Staff publication on Nuclear Operations. The document describes a potential role for such weapons in U.S. warfighting plans.

Promoting access to government information

Aftergood maintained several widely-used collections of government documents. These include Presidential national security directives, US military doctrinal publications, applications of the state secrets privilege, uses of the Invention Secrecy Act,

Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on ...

reports, and studies performed by the JASON science advisory panel.

Awards

Aftergood’s work on government secrecy policy has been recognized with the Pioneer Award from the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ...

, the James Madison Award from the American Library Association, the Public Access to Government Information Award from the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award from the

Playboy Foundation The Playboy Foundation is a corporate-giving organization that provides grants to non-profit groups involved in fighting censorship and researching human sexuality. It gives grants and in-kind contributions, such as advertising space in the ''Playb ...

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

External links

Biography
of Steven Aftergood
Secrecy News
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aftergood, Steven Activists from Los Angeles Activists from Washington, D.C. American political activists Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni Year of birth missing (living people)