By Rachel Legow

For my internship, I work for the Public Interest Declassification Board which is an advisory committee part of the National Archives and Records Administration.

My job is really interesting because I learn about the federal classification process and, sometimes, I learn when classified documents will become declassified before the general public does, such as the Bush-Cheney 9/11 transcripts and the JFK Act documents.

As one of the duties of my job, I write blog posts for the Public Interest Declassification Board’s blog. Last semester, I wrote blog posts about the board members. Being published on a government website is great and exciting, but I figured that the publications would not get a lot of readers which was fine with me.

The National Archives and Records Administration has been in the news recently because of former President Trump and President Biden’s interactions with classified documents. One day, I received an email from one of my superiors about a Washington Post op-ed that cited a few Public Interest Declassification Board blogs. One of the blogs linked was a blog that I wrote. I immediately screen captured the link from the Washington Post to my blog, put the video on Instagram, put the article in my résumé, and texted my parents.

I knew working for the federal government would open doors for me, but I did not expect a Washington Post citation!

You can find the links to Rachel’s blog post and Washington Post feature below:

Blog: https://transforming-classification.blogs.archives.gov/author/rlegow/

Washington Post Feature: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/16/biden-trump-document-scandals-over-classified/

Rachel is a 2L day student graduating in 2024 with an international law concentration. She is involved with Phi Alpha Delta, the International Law Student Association, If/When/How, and serves as both a Law Admission Ambassador and Tour Guide. She is currently working for the Public Interest Declassification Board.