Steven Aftergood

Steven Aftergood directed the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, where he was a leading practitioner of FOIA and a prominent critic of official secrecy.

A FOIA lawsuit brought by Aftergood in 1997 led to the declassification of the intelligence-budget total for the first time in 50 years. Through his popular e-mail newsletter Secrecy News, Aftergood has consistently provided insight into government secrecy policy to a growing audience in the press, government and the public.

He has worked to develop new channels of communication between government and the public to help compensate for the growth in official secrecy. Toward that end, Aftergood has published on the FASP Web site thousands of government records that have been suppressed, withdrawn, or are otherwise unavailable, including Congressional Research Service reports, scientific and historical studies, and assorted policy documents.

In 2006, Aftergood received the James Madison Award from the American Library Association and the Public Access to Government Information Award from the American Association of Law Libraries. He received the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award from the Playboy Foundation in 2004.

Aftergood retired from the Federation of American Scientists in 2021.

(Updated April 2025)