The National Security Archive nonprofit investigative, research, and archive center for declassified U.S. documents based at the George Washington University’s Gelman Library has launched a new Cyber Vault project web site, the organization said Wednesday.
The latest project is to serve as a central repository for key parts of the documentary record on cyber activity.
“The growing prominence of cyber activity as a global security concern with tangible effects on everyday lives has given rise to the production of a vast amount of documentation by governments and private industry,” the archive said in a statement.
The organization highlighted that with the growth in documents researchers, practitioners, teachers, and commentators have the problem of excessive government secrecy and scattering of relevant documents over a large number of websites.
The project has four main dimensions: systematic use of the Freedom of Information Act and Mandatory Declassification Review to obtain documents otherwise not available in cyber issues; expert acquisition of declassified and unclassified primary sources from government, industry, academic, and other cyber actors; the online publication of searchable primary sources in permanent open access formats for use by the growing field; and training and capability-building for graduate students and analysts in the collection and use of primary cyber sources.
Dr. Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Security Archive, will be the director of Cyber Vault. Under him the project will add to its holdings on a regular basis, all materials will be fully searchable, and permanently stored on the project’s site, the organization said.
“The project aims to enhance the National Security Archive’s mission to broaden public understanding of the nature, history and conduct of U.S. foreign and national security policy,” the archive added.
The Cyber Vault is funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the dozens of organizations funding the National Security Archive. The foundation began a grantmaking Cyber Initiative in 2014.