[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6575 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6575

To require the Archivist of the United States to promulgate regulations 
   to prevent the over-classification of information, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2008

 Mr. Waxman (for himself and Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Archivist of the United States to promulgate regulations 
   to prevent the over-classification of information, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Over-Classification Reduction Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to increase Governmentwide information 
sharing and the availability of information to the public by applying 
standards and practices to reduce improper classification.

SEC. 3. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

    (a) Archivist Responsibilities.--
            (1) Regulations.--The Archivist of the United States, in 
        coordination with the Director of National Intelligence and the 
        heads of other affected Federal agencies, shall promulgate 
        regulations to prevent the over-classification of information.
            (2) Requirements.--The regulations under this subsection 
        shall--
                    (A) identify specific threshholds, standards, and 
                requirements to prevent the overclassification of 
                information, including for determining--
                            (i) when classified products should be 
                        prepared in a standard format; and
                            (ii) when classified products should be 
                        prepared in an unclassified format; taking into 
                        consideration whether an unclassified product 
                        would reasonably be expected to be of any 
                        benefit to a State, local, tribal or 
                        territorial government, law enforcement agency, 
                        or other emergency response provider, the 
                        private sector, or the public;
                    (B) ensure that compliance with this Act protects 
                national security and privacy rights; and
                    (C) establish requirements for Federal agencies to 
                implement, subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United 
                States Code, including the following:
                            (i) A process whereby employees may 
                        challenge without retribution classification 
                        decisions by agency employees or contractors 
                        and be rewarded with specific incentives for 
                        successful challenges resulting in--
                                    (I) the removal of improper 
                                classification markings; or
                                    (II) the correct application of 
                                appropriate classification markings.
                            (ii) A method for informing employees and 
                        contractors that repeated failure to comply 
                        with the regulations promulgated under this 
                        section could subject them to a series of 
                        penalties.
                            (iii) Penalties for employees and 
                        contractors who repeatedly fail to comply with 
                        the regulations promulgated under this section 
                        after having received both notice of their 
                        noncompliance and appropriate training or re-
                        training to address such noncompliance.
            (3) Consultation.--In promulgating the regulations, the 
        Archivist shall consult with the heads of Federal agencies and 
        with representatives of State, local, tribal, and territorial 
        governments; law enforcement entities; organizations with 
        expertise in civil rights, employee and labor rights, civil 
        liberties, and government oversight; and the private sector, as 
        appropriate.
            (4) Deadline.--The regulations under this subsection shall 
        be promulgated in final form not later than one year after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Inspector General Responsibilities.--The Inspector General of 
each Federal agency, in consultation with the Archivist, the Director 
of National Intelligence, and the heads of other affected Federal 
agencies, shall randomly audit classified information from each 
component of the agency with employees that have classification 
authority. In conducting any such audit, the Inspector General shall--
            (1) assess, on an individualized basis, whether applicable 
        classification policies, procedures, rules, and regulations 
        have been followed;
            (2) describe any problems with the administration of the 
        applicable classification policies, procedures, rules, and 
        regulations, including specific non-compliance issues;
            (3) recommend improvements in awareness and training to 
        address them; and
            (4) report to Congress, the Archivist, and the public, in 
        an appropriate format, on the findings of the Inspector 
        General's audits under this section.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION WITHIN THE 
              FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

    (a) Personal Identifiers.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes described in paragraph (2), 
        the Archivist of the United States shall require that, at the 
        time of classification of information, the following shall 
        appear on the information:
                    (A) The name or personal identifier of the employee 
                or contractor classifying the information.
                    (B) The agency, office, and position of the 
                employee or contractor.
            (2) Purposes.--The purposes described in this paragraph are 
        as follows:
                    (A) To identify and address over-classification 
                problems, including the classification of information 
                that should not be classified.
                    (B) To assess the information sharing impact of any 
                such problems.
    (b) Training.--The Archivist, subject to chapter 71 of title 5, 
United States Code, and in coordination with the Director of National 
Intelligence and the heads of other affected Federal agencies, shall--
            (1) require annual training for each employee or contractor 
        of a Federal agency with classification authority and who is 
        responsible for analysis, dissemination, preparation, 
        production, receiving, publishing, or otherwise communicating 
        written classified information, including training to educate 
        each employee or contractor about--
                    (A) the prevention of overclassification of 
                information;
                    (B) the proper use of classification markings, 
                including portion markings; and
                    (C) the consequences of over-classification and 
                other repeated improper uses of classification 
                markings, including the misapplication of 
                classification markings to information that does not 
                merit such markings, and of failing to comply with the 
                policies and procedures established under or pursuant 
                to this section, including the negative consequences 
                for the individual's personnel evaluation,information 
                sharing, and the overall success of the agency's 
                missions; and
            (2) ensure that such program is conducted efficiently, in 
        conjunction with any other security, intelligence, or other 
        training programs required by the agency to reduce the costs 
        and administrative burdens associated with the additional 
        training required by this section.
    (c) Detailee Program.--
            (1) Requirement for program.--The Archivist, subject to 
        chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, shall implement a 
        detailee program to detail Federal agency personnel, on a 
        nonreimbursable basis, to the National Archives and Records 
        Administration for one year, for the purpose of--
                    (A) training and educational benefit for the agency 
                personnel assigned so that they may better understand 
                the policies, procedures and laws governing 
                classification authorities;
                    (B) bolstering the ability of the National Archives 
                and Records Administration to conduct its oversight 
                authorities over agencies; and
                    (C) ensuring that the policies and procedures 
                established by the agencies remain consistent with 
                those established by the Archivist of the United 
                States.
            (2) Sunset of detailee program.--Except as otherwise 
        provided by law, this subsection shall cease to have effect on 
        December 31, 2012.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
    (1) Information.--The term ``information'' means any communicable 
knowledge or documentary material, regardless of its physical form or 
characteristics, that is owned by, is produced by or for, or is under 
the control of the Federal Government.
    (2) Federal Agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' means--
            (A) any Executive agency, as that term is defined in 
        section 105 of title 5, United States Code;
            (B) any military department, as that term is defined in 
        section 102 of such title; and
            (C) any other entity within the executive branch that comes 
        into the possession of classified information.
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