Thomas Blanton, director of George Washington University’s National Security Archives, spoke about secrecy in the U.S. government and the national transparency priorities of the next president at Suffolk University Thursday night.

The National Security Archives is a non-governmental organization that collects documents under the Freedom of Information Act. In his lecture, Blanton said the government keeps various governmental policies and legal opinions from the public, including of 9/11 facts.

“The heads of the 9/11 commission estimated that 75 percent of what they saw was classified information, shouldn’t have been [classified],” Blanton said. “The government believes they can prosecute us for possessing the information, me for telling it to you and you for knowing it.”

Blanton said there is also current, censored information regarding U.S. involvement in the War in Iraq, the government’s policy on torture, wiretapping and the opinions on nuclear proliferation.

Despite misgivings about the current administration’s transparency policies, Blanton said he was optimistic.

“Both the leading candidates for presidency have made a commitment to changing the current situation regarding governmental transparency,” he said.

To insure that the public remains informed, Blanton said the next president needs to be honest with the people.

“It must be ensured that no law is withheld from the Congress,” he said. “[The next president] needs to put new guts into the Freedom of Information Act, and see to it that all legal interpretations and policies are made public and totally available to the Congress, unless there is some real, identifiable harm.”

Boston resident Mary Curtin, who attended the lecture, said the U.S. government’s secrecy is a large factor in the country’s current economic crisis.

“This is infringing on our rights and putting us in harm’s way,” she said. “As tax payers, we’re paying to be protected.”

Boston resident Pat Murphy agreed with Blanton, saying openness is the basic element of democracy.

“I’m glad it’s finally being revealed that too many years have passed, and we are only being run by a handful of people,” she said.