GUIDELINES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP93B01194R001200050002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 1, 1978
• Content Type: NOTES

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NOTE TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT: Guidelines for National Security Classification
You asked for my ideas on the subject of classification management
guidance and here they are (attached). It occurred to me that what is
going to be necessary for publication in the Federal Register or for
eventual submission to ISOO is a statement of policy and intent in addition
to a checklist of those "information elements to be protected..." Much
information is floating about and I sought to bring it together as a
statement of policy in an area where the CIA will surely be questioned.
The sources of my draft are DOD 5200.1-R (Information Security Program
Regulation, a 102-page public document), E.O. 12065, and those portions
of the largely obsolete HR _ which will have continued applicability.
In its present format, I believe that further additions concerning lines
of security classification authority, marking, and finally the list of
"information elements" could be added as they are developed. I am
probably not qualified to judge the criteria for classifying sources or
methods but I think the statements I have prepared on the attached would
serve as a basic policy declaration to be expanded upon.
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GUIDELINES FOR THE EXERCISE OF NATIONAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Executive Order 12065 of 3 July 1978 and its Implementing Directive
of mandates all Executive Branch agencies to establish
guides for determing the level of classification at which national security
sensitive official documents, information, and/or material are to be
protected and for what length of time.
2. The following guidelines apply to all official documents, infor-
mation, and material originated by or attributable to any component of
the Central Intelligence Agency which contain national security sensitivities
requiring a degree of protection from unauthorized or improper disclosure
in accordance with statute, Executive Order, or current CIA regulations, or
which place an individual in immediate jeopardy.
3. The purpose of this guideline is to establish the criteria for
insuring that the official documents, information, and material originated
by or attributable to the CIA and/or its components which require a national
security classification shall be protected to the extent and for the period
necessary. The provisions of this guideline may be made applicable, by
contract or other legally binding instrument, to non-governmental individuals,
organizations, and entities entrusted with national security classified
documents, information, and material.
4. Nothing in this guideline supercedes restrictions imposed by the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (as amended), the Patent Secrecy Act of 1952,
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other statutes, Executive Orders, and restrictions imposed by the origi-
nators of official documents, information, and material over which the
CIA does not exercise original or final authority.
II. DEFINITIONS
1. Classification - see national security classification.
2. Classified Information - see national security sensitive information.
3. Classifier - An individual who either:
a. determines that official information, not known by him to be
already classified, currently requires, in the interests of national security,
a specific degree of protection against unauthorized disclosure and having
the authority to do so, designates that official information as Top Secret,
Secret or Confidential; or
b. determines that official information is in substance the same
as information known by him to be already classified by the government as
Top Secret, Secret or Confidential and designates it accordingly.
4. Component - the offices of the Director and Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence; the independent offices; the Directorates of Adminis-
tration, Operations, and Science and Technology; the National Foreign
Assessment Center; and all supporting or subordinate offices, divisions,
and staffs.
5. Compromise - the known or suspected exposure of national security
classified documents, information or material to an unauthorized person.
6. Custodian - the individual or component who has possession of or
is otherwise charged with the responsibility for safeguarding and accounting
for national security classified information.
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7. Document (or Record) -? recorded information regardless of medium
or characteristics as defined by 44 USC 3301.
8. Foreign Government Information - information that has been
provided to the United States in confidence by, or produced by the
United States pursuant to a written joint arrangement requiring confiden-
tiality with a foreign government, or international organization of govern-
ments.
9. Immediate Jeopardy - the placing of an individual in danger of
immediate physical or severe political harm or reprisal.
10. Information - the content of any document (or record) which can
be communicated by any means.
11. Material - product, substance, item of equipment, or other
physical objection or in which information may be recorded or embodied.
12. Method (of Intelligence) - the means used to provide support to
an intelligence source or operation and which, if disclosed, is vulnerable
to counteraction that could nullify or significantly reduce its effective-
ness in supporting foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities
or which could, if disclosed, reasonably lead to the disclosure of an
intelligence source or operation.
13. National Security - collective term encompassing both the national
defense and foreign relations of the United States.
14. National Security Classification - the determination that official
information requires a specific degree of protection against unauthorized
disclosure in the interests of national security and/or the safeguarding
of individuals from personal jeopardy.
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15. National Security Sensitive Information - official information
which has been determined to require, in the interests of national security,
protection against unauthorized disclosure and which has been so designated.
16. Official Information - information which is owned by, produced
for or by, or is subject to the control of the CIA or any other agency of
the United States Government as defined in 5 U.S.C. 552(A).
17. Original Classification Authority - the authority to make original
national security classifications which is vested specifically and in
writing in an official of the CIA as the incumbent of an office, and in
the official specifically and in writing designated to act in the absence
of the incumbent.
18. Source -
a. a person, organization, or technical means which provides
foreign intelligence and/or counterintelligence and which, if its identity
or capability is disclosed, is vulnerable to counteraction that could
nullify or significantly reduce its effectiveness, or
b. a person or organization which provides foreign intelligence
and/or counterintelligence to the United States only on the condition that
its identity remains undisclosed.
III. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION CATEGORIES
1. TOP SECRET - the category of national security sensitive infor-
mation which requires the highest degree of protection because its unauthor-
ized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave
damage to the national security. Examples include armed hostilities
against the United States or its allies; disruption of foreign relations
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vitally affecting the national security; the compromise of vital national
defense plans or complex cryptologic and communications intelligence
systems; the revelation of sensitive intelligence operations; and the
disclosure of scientific or technological developments vital to national
security.
2. SECRET - the category of national security sensitive information
which requires a substantial degree of protection because its unauthorized
disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the
national security or place an individual in immediate jeopardy. Examples
of serious damage include disruption of foreign relations significantly
affecting the national security; significant impairment of a program or
policy directly related to the national security, revelation of signifi-
cant military plans or intelligence operations; compromise of significant
scientific or technological developments relating to national security;
or the identification of human intelligence sources in such a fashion as
to make the sources and/or their family and immediate descendants vulnerable
to physical or severe political harm or reprisal.
3. CONFIDENTIAL - the category of national security sensitive infor-
mation which requires a degree of protection because its unauthorized
disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable damage to
the national security.
IV. CLASSIFICATION POLICY
1. Except as expressly provided by statute, no national security
classification category other than III (l)-(3) shall be used to identify
official documents, information, and material requiring protection in the
interests of national security, or safeguarding individuals from personal
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jeopardy.
2. Subject to the prior specific approval of the Deputy Director
for Administration, special measures, including compartmentation systems,
may be imposed with respect to controlling access, distribution and
protection of national security classified official documents, information,
and material including those which relate to communications intelligence,
intelligence sources and methods, and cryptography. Special measures in
existence on the effective date of E.O. 12065 and its Implementing Directive
remain valid without reissuance or reapproval.
3. National security classified foreign grovernment information
shall either retain its original classification designation or be assigned
a United States classification designation that shall ensure a degree of
protection equivalent to that required by the entity that furnished the
information. The unauthorized disclosure of foreign government infor-
mation or the identity of a foreign source requiring protection is presumed
to cause at least identifiable damage to the national security.
4. Classification determinations must be preceded by an exact iden-
tification of each item of information which may require security protection.
This process involves the identification of that specific information which
possesses a national security sensitivity or which is reasonably believed
to place an individual in immediate jeopardy. Each security classified
document shall indicate clearly which portions require a national security
classification, the applicable level of classification, and which portions
are not security classified.
5. An evaluation of information forms the basis for national
security classification. A document or other material is given a national
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security classification either (1) because the information which it
contains may be determined by study, analysis, observation, or use; or
(2) because of the information it may reveal when associated with other
information, including that which the classifier knows already has been
officially released into the public domain. Intelligence operations
inherently involve a mosaic of information in which isolated and apparently
unrelated items can be linked together to reveal or endanger intelligence
sources and mathods. By statute, the Director of Central Intelligence is
responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods from unauthor-
ized disclosure.
6. The state-of-the-art in other nations, and/or by international
organizations or non-national entities is a vital factor to be considered
in national security classification determinations. Such determinations
of national security classification require consideration of the infor-
mation available from intelligence sources concerning the extent to which
the same or similar information is known or is available to others. It is
also important to consider whether it is known, publicly or internationally,
that the United States has the information or is even interested in the
subject matter.
7. Whenever a subject, program, operation, or project has been
classified by the Director, a Deputy Director, or another official author-
ized to make that decision (including non-CIA officials) that decision
controls the decisions of all other persons with respect to any documents
of a substantive nature originated by them involving such matter.
8. The degree of intended or anticipated dissemination and use, and
whether the end purpose to be served would render effective security control
factors impractical are factors to be considered in determining whether a
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national security classification is to be imposed and at what level.
These factors do not necessarily preclude security classification but
they require consideration of the extent to which national security class-
ification under such circumstances may degrade the security classification
system by attempting to impose security control in impractical situations.
Determinations dependent upon such factors are the responsibility of the
official having original classification authority over the documents,
information, or material involved.
9. Each document shall be security classified on the basis of the
information which it contains or reveals. The overall classification of a
document shall be as high as that of its most highly classified portion.
Each portion shall be security classified individually on its own merits.
Persons who prepare security classified documents by abstracting or synop-
siring other security classified information from multiple sources shall
apply the highest security classification used in such sources, if such
a classification is warranted in the finished document.
10. Files, containers, and other items Which contain documents and/or
materials shall be classified at least as high as that of the most highly
classified component therein. When it is feasible to do so, documents of
differing national security classifications should not be physically
connected.
11. Non-documentary material may be security classified when security
classified information can be derived from it by visual observation of
internal or external appearance, structure, operation, test, application,
or use. The overall security classification assigned to such material
shall be at least as high as the highest classification of any of the items
of information revealed.
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12. Appearance in the public domain of information currently
carrying, or being considered for, a national security classification
does not preclude -initial or continued classification; however, such
disclosures require immediate re-evaluation of the information to deter-
mine whether the publication has so compromised the information that
further security classification at its existing level is warranted.
Similar consideration must be given to related items of information in
all programs, projects or items incorporating or pertaining to the com-
promised items of information. Custodians of compromised security class-
ified information should continue classification until advised to the
contrary by competent authority.
13. National security classified documents, information, and
material shall be handled in accordance with current CIA regulations for
the handling, storage, referencing, dissemination, use, and destruction of
such items. Access to national security classified documents, information,
and material shall be based upon the appropriate security clearance and
the need of the person to have access in order to perform his/her official
duties or contractual obligations.
Any employee who has knowledge of the loss or possible com-
promise of classified information or documents shall immediately report
the circumstances to the Director of Security. The Director of Security
shall notify all interested departments and agencies in order that a damage
assessment may be conducted. If the loss or compromise occurred in CIA,
the Director of Security immediately shall initiate an inquiry for the
purpose of taking corrective measures and recommending appropriate admin-
istrative, disciplinary or legal action.
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V. CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTIONS
1. National security classification shall apply only to official
information requiring protection in the interests of national security
and the safeguarding of individuals from immediate jeopardy. It may not
be used to conceal violations of law, inefficiency or administrative error,
to prevent embarrassment, or to restrain competition.
2. When determined to be necessary, national security classification
shall be retained for the minimum length of time considering the degree
of sensitivity, cost, and probability of compromise. Unnecessary security
classification shall be scrupulously avoided.
3. Basic scientific research not clearly related to the national
defense, or the product of non-governmental research and development that
does not incorporate or reveal security classified information to which
the producer or developer was given prior access, may not be security
classified.
4. References to security classified documents, that do not, standing
alone, reveal security classified information, may not themselves be
security classified, or be used as the basis for security classification.
5. Compilations, abstracts, and/or synopses of unclassified documents
or information may not be classified unless they contain additional infor-
mation in their final format which is otherwise subject to national
security classification. Such additional information shall be clearly
designated with the appropriate national security classification.
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