[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 854 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 854

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

                            February 4, 2009

  Mr. Clay (for himself and Mr. Towns) 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 Government-wide 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 
        consultation with the heads of affected Federal agencies, shall 
        promulgate regulations to prevent the over-classification of 
        information.
            (2) Requirements.--The regulations under this subsection 
        shall--
                    (A) identify specific requirements to prevent the 
                over-classification of information, including for 
                determining--
                            (i) when classified products should be 
                        prepared in a similar format Government-wide; 
                        and
                            (ii) when classified products should also 
                        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) The process whereby an individual may 
                        challenge without retribution classification 
                        decisions by another individual 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 individuals 
                        that repeated failure to comply with the 
                        regulations promulgated under this section 
                        could subject them to a series of penalties.
                            (iii) Penalties for individuals 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.--The regulations shall be promulgated in 
        consultation, as appropriate, 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.
            (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.--Consistent with the 
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) and section 17 of the 
Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 403q), the Inspector 
General of each affected Federal agency, in consultation with the 
Archivist, 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 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 any problems identified under paragraph (2); 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, personal identifier, or unique agency 
                identifier of the individual applying classification 
                markings to the information.
                    (B) The agency, office, and position of the 
                individual.
            (2) Purposes.--The purposes described in this paragraph are 
        as follows:
                    (A) To enable the agency 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.--When implementing the security education and 
training program pursuant to Executive Order 12958, Executive Order 
12829, and successor appropriate Executive Orders, the Archivist, 
subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, shall, in 
consultation with heads of affected Federal agencies--
            (1) integrate training to educate about--
                    (A) the prevention of over-classification of 
                information;
                    (B) the proper use of classification markings, 
                including portion markings;
                    (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
                    (D) information relating to lessons learned from 
                implementation of the regulations including affected 
                Federal agency internal audits and Inspector General 
                audits, as provided under this Act; 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, in consultation with 
        heads of affected Federal agencies, shall implement a detailee 
        program to detail Federal agency personnel, on a 
        nonreimbursable basis, to the National Archives and Records 
        Administration 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.
            (3) Affected federal agency.--The term ``affected Federal 
        agency'' means any Federal agency that employs an individual 
        with original or derivative classification authority.
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