The truth is out there . . . or maybe it's in the records

I missed this story, but Peter Kurilecz didn't; he included it in his 6 December RAIN posting to the Archives & Archivists listserv.

I think it's safe to say that the current President has not been an ardent champion of openness or transparency. Many archivists and academics who make heavy use of government records are hoping that President-elect Obama takes a different approach to records issues.

So does the unidentified flying objects crowd:

UFO aficionados are urging Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, spurred on by support from within his own White House team.

They have written to the president-elect, pressing him to reveal the contents of America's X Files.

In a letter, the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee asks Mr. Obama to "end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race" . . . .

The group wants military services and intelligence agencies to brief the incoming president about what they know.

They also urge Mr. Obama to open congressional hearings "to take testimony from scores of government witnesses who have already come forward with extraordinary evidence and are prepared to testify under oath."