COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00171R002300040009-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2004
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: June 3, 1977
• Content Type: MF

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NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20506
June 3, 1977
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of Defense
The Attorney General
The Director, Office of Management and Budget
The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Director of Central Intelligence
The Administrator, Energy Research and
Development Administration
The U. S. Representative to the United Nations
The Archivist of the United States
The Counsel to the President
SUBJECT: Comprehensive Review of the Classification System
There will be a meeting of the ad hoc committee created by PRM 29 at
2:30 p. m. , Wednesday, June 8 in Room 305 OEOB to begin work on
the new Executive Order called for in the PRM.
The meeting will be co-chaired by Dr. Robert Gates of the NSC Staff
and Mr. Richard Neustadt of the Domestic Council Staff. An. issues
paper prepared at the Department of State is attached for your information.
Will you please notify my office by noon on Tuesday, June 7 of your
representative(s) who will attend this meeting.
Christine Dodson
Staff Secretary
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Washington, D.C. 20520
Issues to be Considered by ad hoc Committee
Under PR`-1/NSC
The following key issues shall be considered by
the ad hoc Committee. Their guidance on these issues
shall serve as the basis for the working group's
drafting efforts. These issues'are grouped under the
appropriate point from the PRAT.
1. jlhich information requires protection and for how
long and what criteria should be used in making- this
judgment;
- what is "sensitive national security information"?
Is the standard of E.O. 11652, i.e. "could reasonably
be expected to cause damage to the national security"
an adequate legal standard?
- Are the existing categories of E.O. 11652 (i.e. Top
Secret, Secret, Confidential) meaningful? Should
we re-define the categories, perhaps reducing them
to two or increasing them to four?
-- Should the new Executive order establish special
categories for information protected by statute,
i.e. the DCI's responsibility for protection of
intelligence sources and methods, and NSA's re-
sponsibilities for communications intelligence:
2. How to provide for the maximum release of information
to the American public on government activities and
policies consistent with the need to protect sensitive
national security information; and
3. How to promote increased public access to this
information through a more rapids and systematic declas-
sification program;
Can the automatic declassification system be
modified or expanded to accelerate declassifica-
tion or to reduce the amount of information that
is exempted from automatic declassification?
Are the periods for automatic declassification
.established by E.O. 11652 too long (i.e. 10 years
.for TS, 8 for S, 6 for C)?
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- What can be done to increase the use of-the auto-
matic declassification system, or to use "specific
event declassification," e.g. conclusion of a
certain negotiation.
- Should more emphasis be placed on the Foreign
Relations Series, or other Departmental publica-
tions, or on programs by the Archives to publish
important papers?
4. Which categories of classified material more than
20 years old could be declassified in bulk under appro-
priate guidelines;
-- Should the new Executive Order. state which cate-
gories could be declassified in bulk after 20
years; or should the order state that everything
must be declassified after 20 years except certain
specific categories?
If the former approach is selected, can the cate-
gories be adequately defined or should that be
left. to the Archivist to work out with the head
of the Department or agency at the time of
accession?
5.. Whether the Departments and Agencies should prepare
classification and declassification guidelines for their
employees;
-- Should the new Executive Order require departmental
guidelines, or should they be optional? Will they
encourage more or less classification?
6.- Overlaps between the new Executive Order and the
Freedom of Information Act as amended and the Privacy
Act;
$hould the new Executive Order direct that all
requests from a member of_the public for classi-
fied information be treated as a request under
the FOIA? (i.e. discard the separate mandatory
review provisions of E.U. ll 52?)
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7. How the classification system can be simplified to
.make it more understandable and easier to implement;
Should the new Executive order be very short (so
people will read it) with details in an annex or
an NSC directive? (e.g. instead of lengthy sections
on authority to classify and declassify, the order
could simply say persons with authority to classify.
or declassify at a certain level will be designated
in writing by the head of the Department or agency
in accordance with the provisions of the annex).
Could the automatic downgrading by step be eliminated?
(Is it meaningful to say that Top Secret automatically
goes to Secret after two years.?)
8. How unnecessary and duplicative practices and pro-
cedures can be eliminated, reducing expenses;
Should the order permit or prohibit additional
protections such as the practice of "special
clearances" or "compartmentalization"?
Should the order require standardization of certain
administrative matters such as cover sheets, forms,
and accountability?
9. What kinds of disciplinary actions can be taken to
prevent the misuse of the security classification system
by government officials. _
Is the sanction in E.O. 11652 ("repeated abuse...
shall be grounds for administrative reprimand")
stiff enough? Should there-be criminal sanctions
for extreme misuses, such as use of classification
to cover up criminal activities or gross mismanage-
ment?
Should the new Executive order adopt an enforcement
system based primarily on' Departmental action? (One
suggestion is the following: routine inspections of
classification and declassification decisions, incor-
rect or poor decisions discovered in the inspections
reported to individual's superior, head of the Depart-
ment receives a yearly report of such reports and must
certify to President or NSC that appropriate corrective
steps have been taken).
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10. Implementation and role of Interagency Classification
Review Committee.
- Should the responsibilities and composition of
the ICRC.as established under E.O. 11652 be
continued?
- If changes are appropriate, should the body
--- be given greater authority to enforce the
order?
have responsibility for coordinating.the
executive branch policy on classification
in response to FOIA requests and lawsuits?
be a body to which the public has a manda-
tory right of appeal (one would have to
appeal to ICRC before going to court under
FOIA)?
be chaired-by the Vice President or prominent
private citizen?
11. Other issues not mentioned in PRIM
Should the new Executive Order require that each
person who has access to classified information
execute a standard secrecy agreement as a condi-
tion of being granted access? ---
Should the new order establish procedures and
standards for providing U.S. classified informa-
tion to foreign governments?
- Should the ad hoc Committee consider the issue
of what sanctions (civil or criminal) should
be adopted, modified, or-continued, for the
unauthorized disclosure of classified informa-
tion?
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