CIA IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER WHICH PROTECTS NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP80B01495R000200090012-1
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
December 16, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 16, 2005
Sequence Number: 
12
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 21, 1972
Content Type: 
MF
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP80B01495R000200090012-1.pdf175.65 KB
Body: 
Approved For Rele 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R00~00090012-1 OGC 72-0574 21 April 1972 MEMORANDUM FOR: Executive Director-Comptroller Deputy Director for Plans Deputy Director for Intelligence Deputy Director for Support Deputy Director for Science & Technology SUBJECT ~ CIA Implementation of New Executive Order Which Protects National Security Information 1. This memorandum is to bring to the attention of appropriate officials CIA actions needed under the new Executive Order in the field of protecting national security information. 2. The new Order accomplishes certain fundamental changes in government policy. Some will cause the Agency certain problems; in particular, we will face problems with respect to declassification of documents, both CIA documents and any others for which we have responsibility. The new Executive Order is effective 1 June 1972. A number of actions and decisions by the Agency will be necessary prior to that date. The mast difficult problem before us is the. development of new Agencytr~?gulations_ to.be submtitted to the White House for ap- proval by 15 May.. Additional actions are required as follows: a. The Executive Order calls for the implementation by further directives of the President acting through the National Security Council. A working draft of one such directive has been received; Agency comments will be needed early next week. b. A letter from the Archivist of the United States to the Director asks that an Agency representative "at the Assistant Secretary level" be appointed to work with the Archivist to assist him in discharg- ing his duties under the new Order. The initial meeting of the Archivist with designees of various departments is scheduled for 28 April. A response to the Archivist is needed. Approved For Release 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R000200090012-1 Approved For Rel~se 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R~200090012-1 c. The Executive Order calls for an Interagency Classi- fication Review Gommittee_tc~~.~sist the Nation_ purity Council in _....~ . {nonit ro ng the rriplementatio~ of the Order. ,This Committee is to be compo"sed of representatives of various named agencies, including the CIA. It will be necessary to select our member. d. Under the Order, ~. senior m~:rnber of CIA must be designated to ensure Agency compliance with the Order and to_chair a CIA committee to discharge certain responsibilities under the Order. e. Under the new Order the Director is the only Agency official authorized to classify information. Sut the Order also author- izes the Director to delegate classification authority to certain officials. It will be necessary that an appropriate delegation be made by the Direc- tor prior to 1 June. 3. The major provisions of the Order to be considered in draft- ing the Agency regulation are set out below. a. Classifying The definitions of "Top Secret", "Secret", "Confidential" and "national security" have_been char e_d and will require appropriate changes in Agency regulations. Also, the Order requires that each classified document indicate on its face the identity of the classifier, unless "the Department involve~~s~ia~l have provided some other method of identifying the individual" who classified it. Procedures to accom- plish this requirement will be necessary. b. Declassification of Information Originating After 1 June 1972 Under the Order all new information automatically declas- sifies under a General Declassification Schedule (after 10, 8 or 6 years), except when action is taken to exempt information from automatic declas- sification under that Schedule. Procedures will be required to assure that decteione to exempt or_not to .exempt are made in timely fashion. Additionally, in~nzation.~xex~pt~d~fsom. the General. Declassificatioxi Schedule is automatically. declassified at the end of 30 years,, u~+sis the Agehcy head at that time determines that continued classification is required. Here also procedures for timely review will have to be established. Approved For Release 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R000200090012-1 Approved For Re~l~d"se 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R0`100090012-1 c. Declassification of Information Originating Before 1 June 1972 Under the Order all information not assigned in Group 4 of, Executive Order 10501 is exempted from., automatic declasai.fcation. CIA inforation is not in Group 4, but other documents in our possession may b'e. The 30-via.~'"automi~,.,~c~e~las._,~,,~,~,~,,~xa? provision does apply with re- spect to pre-June 1972 information. Thus, declassification of the OSS ~_ _ documents _in our' possession will occur unless the Director acts to con-, ~_.._ _ -time classification.. Since OSS was established in July 1941, our initial reviews under the 30-year rule (to be accomplished in conjunction with the Archivist of the United States) would be addressed to a relatively small quantity of documents. But machinery to systematically consider 30-year-old documents will have to be developed. d. Systematic Review for Earlier Declassification Information originating before or after 1 June 1972 is to be systematically reviewed for declassification earlier than required by the General Declassification Schedule. Compliance with the requirement for systematic review of the pre~June 1972_nformation poses immense prob- m._ _ ~ .~_ ~ _... ___ lems. Manifestly, it is impossible for the Agency to review every year a~Agency records dating back to the previous 30 years. The require- ment of the Order in this regard is simply that the forthcoming imple- menting directive by the President is to conform to the policy that clas- sified "information or material shall be reviewed on a systematic basis for the purpose of accomplishing downgrading, declassification, trans- fer, retirement and destruction at the earliest practicable date. " That draft implements the quoted provis n ere y y sayLng that information shall be systematically reviewed "at least annually". Hopefully, the working draft can be modified on this point. 4. I attach a copy of a lengthy summary of the Order (Tab A), together with a copy of the Order itself (Tab B). In accordance with the request of the Executive Director to us, we are preparing a draft of an Agency regulation. We do not need formal comment from ad- dressees, but we will welcome any advice, information or indication of problems or interests of any component. LAWRENCE R. HOUSTON General Counsel Approved For Release 2005/06/07 :CIA-RDP80B01495R000200090012-1