[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5019-S5020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2725. Mr. PETERS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of title XV, add the following:
Subtitle D--Classification Reform for Transparency Act of 2024
SEC. 1549. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the ``Classification Reform
for Transparency Act of 2024''.
SEC. 1550. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle:
(1) Classification.--The term ``classification'' means the
act or process by which information is determined to be
classified information.
(2) Classification system.--The term ``classification
system'' means the system of the Federal Government for
classification and declassification.
(3) Classified information.--The term ``classified
information'' has the meaning given the term ``classified
information of the United States'' in section 1924(c) of
title 18, United States Code.
(4) Declassification.--The term ``declassification'' means
the authorized change in the status of information from
classified information to unclassified information.
(5) Executive agency.--The term ``Executive agency'' has
the meaning given such term in section 105 of title 5, United
States Code.
(6) Information.--The term ``information'' means any
knowledge that can be communicated 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.
(7) National declassification center.--The term ``National
Declassification Center'' means the National Declassification
Center established by section 3.7 of Executive Order 13526
(50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national
security information), or successor center.
(8) Panel.--The term ``Panel'' means the Interagency
Security Classification Appeals Panel established by section
5.3 of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating
to classified national security information), or successor
panel.
SEC. 1551. CLASSIFICATION PROHIBITIONS AND LIMITATIONS.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, in no case shall information be classified, continue to
be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified in
order--
(1) to conceal a violation of law, inefficiency,
mismanagement, or administrative error;
(2) to prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or
element of the Federal Government;
(3) to restrain competition; or
(4) to prevent or delay the release of information that
does not require protection in the interest of the national
security.
(b) Basic Scientific Research.--Basic scientific research
information not clearly related to the national security of
the United States shall not be classified.
(c) Reclassification.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
information may not be reclassified after declassification
and release to the public under proper authority.
(2) Waiver.--The National Security Advisor may authorize
the reclassification of information after declassification
and release as described in paragraph (1) in a case in which
the National Security Advisor determines that doing so is in
the interest of national security.
SEC. 1552. TASK FORCE ON STREAMLINING CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
AND NARROWING OF CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA.
(a) Establishment Required.--Not later than 90 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall
establish a task force to streamline the classification
system and to narrow the criteria for classification.
(b) Membership.--The task force established pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be composed of members selected as
follows:
(1) At least 1 member selected by the Director of National
Intelligence.
(2) At least 1 member selected by the Archivist of the
United States.
(3) At least 1 member selected by the Secretary of Defense.
(4) At least 1 member selected by the Secretary of State.
(5) At least 1 member selected by the Attorney General.
(6) Such additional members as the President considers
appropriate.
(c) Duties.--The duties of the task force established
pursuant to subsection (a) are as follows:
(1) To create a plan for phasing out the use in the
classification system of the classification level designated
as ``Confidential''.
(2) To develop specific guidance on the precise meaning of
``damage to the national security'' as it pertains to
Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to
classified national security information), or successor
order.
(3) To develop specific guidance on the precise meaning of
``intelligence sources or methods'' as it pertains to such
Executive Order.
(4) To develop additional guidance related to narrowing the
criteria for classification and the exemptions from automatic
declassification.
(d) Deadline and Report.--Not later than 1 year after the
date on which the President establishes the task force
required by subsection (a), the task force shall--
(1) complete the duties set forth under subsection (c); and
(2) submit to Congress and make publicly available a report
with the plan created under paragraph (1) of subsection (c)
and the guidance developed under paragraphs (2) and (3) of
such subsection.
SEC. 1553. AUTOMATIC EXPIRATION OF CLASSIFICATION STATUS.
(a) Automatic Expiration.--
(1) In general.--Subject to subsection (b), the
classification marking on any information that is more than
50 years old shall be considered expired, and the information
shall be considered unclassified.
(2) Effective date.--Paragraph (1) shall take effect on the
date that is 3 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(b) Authority to Exempt.--The President may, as the
President considers appropriate, exempt specific information
from the requirement of subsection (a)(1) pursuant to a
request received by the President pursuant to subsection (c).
(c) Requests for Exemptions.--In extraordinary cases, the
head of an Executive agency may request from the President an
exemption to the requirement of subsection (a)(1) for
specific information that reveals--
(1) the identity of a human source or human intelligence
source in a case in which the source or a relative of the
source is alive and disclosure would present a clear danger
to the safety of the source or relative;
(2) a key design concept of a weapon of mass destruction;
or
(3) information that would result in critical harm to
ongoing or future operations.
(d) Notification.--
(1) Definition of appropriate committees of congress.--In
this subsection, the term ``appropriate committee of
Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the
Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of
Representatives.
(2) In general.--If an exemption is requested pursuant to
subsection (c), the President shall, not later than 30 days
after the date on which the President approves or rejects the
requested exemption, submit to Congress, including the
appropriate committees of Congress, notice of such approval
or rejection.
(3) Contents.--Each notice submitted pursuant to paragraph
(2) for an approval or rejection shall include a
justification for the approval or rejection.
(4) Form.--To the degree practicable, each notice submitted
pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be submitted in unclassified
form.
SEC. 1554. REFORMS OF THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM.
(a) Declassification Authority of National Declassification
Center.--Beginning 1 year after the date that the National
Declassification Center refers any information that is among
the holdings of the National Archives and eligible for
automatic declassification pursuant to Executive Order 13526
(50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national
security information), or successor order, to any relevant
Executive agency for review and if such Executive agency has
not completed the review, the National Declassification
Center may declassify the information without requiring
review by or approval for declassification or release from
any Executive agency.
(b) Incorporation of Interagency Security Classification
Appeals Panel in Classification and Declassification
Guidance.--
(1) Decisions of panel as binding precedent.--Decisions of
the Panel shall create a binding precedent on each Executive
agency with respect to the classification status of
information subject to the decision, unless the decision is
overturned by the President.
(2) Timing of binding precedent.--Decisions of the Panel
shall become binding on each Executive agency after an
appeal--
(A) is not exercised by an agency; or
(B) is rejected by the President.
(3) Incorporation of decisions into guidance.--The National
Declassification Center
[[Page S5020]]
and each head of an Executive agency shall incorporate
decisions of the Panel into classification and
declassification guidance as may be applicable.
(4) Congressional oversight.--
(A) Definition of appropriate committees of congress.--In
this paragraph, the term ``appropriate committee of
Congress'' means--
(i) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the
Senate; and
(ii) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of
Representatives.
(B) Annual report.--Each year, the Panel shall submit to
the appropriate committees of Congress an annual report
summarizing the decisions of the Panel for the year covered
by the report and the precedents that were created.
(c) Declassification Upon Request of Congress.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date on
which the head of an Executive agency receives a request from
a chair, vice-chair, or ranking member of an appropriate
committee of Congress for declassification of specific
information in the possession of the Executive agency, the
head of the Executive agency shall--
(A) review the information for declassification; and
(B) provide the member of Congress--
(i) the declassified information or document; or
(ii) notice that, pursuant to review under subparagraph
(A), the information is not being declassified, along with a
justification for not declassifying the information.
(2) Complex or lengthy requests.--In a case in which the
head of an Executive agency receives a request as described
in paragraph (1) and the head determines that such request is
particularly complex or lengthy, such paragraph shall be
applied by substituting ``180 days'' for ``90 days''.
(d) Mandatory Declassification Review for Matters in the
Public Interest.--The President shall require that the
mandatory declassification review process established
pursuant to Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note;
relating to classified national security information), or
successor order, include--
(1) a process by which members of the public may request
declassification of information in cases in which--
(A) the information meets the standards for classification;
and
(B) the public interest in disclosure would outweigh the
national security harm that could reasonably be expected to
result from disclosure of the information; and
(2) an expedited process for consideration of
declassification of information in cases in which there is
urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged
Federal Government activity.
(e) Remediation To Address Excessive Classification and
Insufficient Declassification Actions of Employees and
Contractors.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, each head of an Executive agency
shall develop and implement, in consultation with the
Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the Director
of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Information
Security Oversight Office, a system that includes the
following elements:
(A) Periodic audits, or other evidence-based approaches, to
identify and correct agency-wide trends in employees of
Executive agencies who knowingly, willfully, negligently, or
frequently classify information--
(i) that does not meet the standard for classification set
forth in the applicable Executive Order or statute; or
(ii) at a higher level than warranted under the applicable
Executive Order or statute.
(B) Remedial measures or administrative penalties, as may
be appropriate, including reprimand, suspension without pay,
removal, termination of classification authority, loss or
denial of access to classified information, or other
sanctions in accordance with applicable law and agency
regulation.
(C) At a minimum, the prompt removal of the classification
authority of any individual who demonstrates reckless
disregard or a pattern of error in applying the
classification standards of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C.
3161 note; relating to classified national security
information), or successor order.
(D) Periodic reevaluation for employees who are identified
pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(E) Development of criteria to incorporate responsible use
of the classification system in the performance standards and
reviews of employees whose duties significantly involve the
creation or handling of classified information.
(F) A safe harbor for employees who fail to apply
classification markings to, or otherwise protect, classified
information in cases in which--
(i) the employee identifies significant ambiguity as to the
classification status of the information; or
(ii) the failure is an isolated or rare instance and is
neither willful, knowing, or negligent.
(G) Employees who meet the criteria to utilize a safe
harbor as specified in subparagraph (F) shall not be subject
to any remedial measures or administrative penalties,
including suspension or termination of clearance or
classification authority, as a result of their failure to
apply classification markings to, or otherwise protect,
classified information.
(H) Cash awards or other incentives to promote meritorious
challenges to unnecessary classification, pursuant to section
1.8 of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating
to classified national security information), or comparable
provision of a successor order, or significant contributions
to the declassification of information that is eligible for
declassification.
(I) The incorporation of the standards, requirements, and
other elements of the system into existing and future
contracts that involve the handling of classified
information.
(2) Preservation of existing employee protections.--
Paragraph (1) shall not be construed to require the
elimination of any employee protections in effect on the day
before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(3) Report.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
Personnel Management, the Director of National Intelligence,
and the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office
shall jointly submit to Congress a report on the status of
Executive agency implementation of systems pursuant to
paragraph (1).
(B) Contents.--The report required by subparagraph (A)
shall include the following:
(i) Identification of any relevant leading practices by
Executive agencies.
(ii) Identification of Executive agencies that have failed
to develop a system in accordance with paragraph (1).
(f) Identification of Harm to National Security.--At the
time of original classification, in addition to the
identifications and markings required by section 1.6 of
Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to
classified national security information), or successor
order, the original classification authority shall identify
in writing the specific harm to national security that could
reasonably be expected to result from disclosure.
(g) Congressional Authority to Release Information.--
Nothing in this subtitle shall be deemed in conflict with, or
to otherwise impede the authority of, Congress under clause 3
of section 5 of article I of the Constitution of the United
States to release information in its possession, and such
information so released shall be deemed declassified or
otherwise released in full.
SEC. 1555. FUNDING FOR CLASSIFICATION AND DECLASSIFICATION.
(a) In General.--The President shall ensure that for each
fiscal year, the budget of the President submitted pursuant
to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, includes
estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations that the
President decides are necessary to support the
classification, declassification, and safeguarding activities
of the Federal Government in the fiscal year for which the
budget is submitted and the 4 fiscal years after that year.
(b) Detailed Analysis.--Estimates included pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be accompanied by a detailed analysis,
disaggregated by budget function, Executive agency, program,
project, activity, and fiscal year, of the estimated amounts
that will be expended on classification, declassification,
and safeguarding activities by the Federal Government over
the same period.
(c) Minimum Amount.--Estimates and proposed appropriations
included pursuant to subsection (a) for a fiscal year shall
estimate and propose an amount of funding available for
declassification activities that is equal to or greater than
10 percent of the amount estimated and proposed for
classification and safeguarding activities for the same
fiscal year.
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