UPI - When the clock ticks in the year 2007, hundreds of millions of classified U.S. documents older than 25 years will become available to the public. In 1995, former U.S. President Bill Clinton signed an executive order calling for the declassification by 2000 but agencies complained they couldn't meet the deadline and it was extended to 2003.

U.S. President George Bush extended it to the end of 2006 but said there would be no more extensions, The New York Times said. Not every old document will become available, as agencies such as the CIA, the FBI and National Security Agency can apply for exemptions. Regardless, documents from the Cold War era and files on investigations of people suspected of being Communist sympathizers are expected to create a stampede of scholars, journalists and the curious in January, the Times said. The sheer volume of the declassification means it could take months for staff at the backlogged National Archives to prepare the documents for public viewing, the newspaper said.