[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 733-734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-31424]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 2 / Tuesday, January 5, 2010 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 733]]


                Memorandum of December 29, 2009

                
 Implementation of the Executive Order, 
                ``Classified National Security Information''

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                Today I have signed an executive order entitled, 
                ``Classified National Security Information'' (the 
                ``order''), which substantially advances my goals for 
                reforming the security classification and 
                declassification processes. I expect that the order 
                will produce measurable progress towards greater 
                openness and transparency in the Government's 
                classification and declassification programs while 
                protecting the Government's legitimate interests, and I 
                will closely monitor the results. I also look forward 
                to reviewing recommendations from the study that the 
                National Security Advisor will undertake in cooperation 
                with the Public Interest Declassification Board to 
                design a more fundamental transformation of the 
                security classification system. To further assist in 
                fulfilling the goal of measurable progress toward 
                greater openness and transparency, I hereby direct the 
                following actions.

                1. Initial Implementation Efforts.

                Successful implementation of the order requires 
                personal commitment from the heads of departments and 
                agencies, as well as their senior officials. It also 
                requires effective security education and training 
                programs, self-inspection programs, and measures 
                designed to hold personnel accountable.

                In accordance with section 5.4 of the order, the head 
                of each department and agency that creates or handles 
                classified information shall provide the Director of 
                the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) a copy 
                of the department or agency regulations implementing 
                the requirements of the order. Such regulations shall 
                be issued in final form within 180 days of ISOO's 
                publication of its implementing directive for the 
                order. The Director of ISOO shall consider agency 
                actions to implement the requirements of section 5.4 of 
                the order as a key element in planning oversight of 
                agencies. Each senior agency official designated under 
                section 5.4(d) of the order shall provide ISOO with 
                updates concerning agency plans and other actions to 
                implement the requirements of the order. The Director 
                of ISOO shall publish a periodic status report on 
                agency implementation.

                2. Declassification of Records of Permanent Historical 
                Value.

                Under the direction of the National Declassification 
                Center (NDC), and utilizing recommendations of an 
                ongoing Business Process Review in support of the NDC, 
                referrals and quality assurance problems within a 
                backlog of more than 400 million pages of accessioned 
                Federal records previously subject to automatic 
                declassification shall be addressed in a manner that 
                will permit public access to all declassified records 
                from this backlog no later than December 31, 2013. In 
                order to promote the efficient and effective 
                utilization of finite resources available for 
                declassification, further referrals of these records 
                are not required except for those containing 
                information that would clearly and demonstrably reveal: 
                (a) the identity of a confidential human source or a 
                human intelligence source; or (b) key design concepts 
                of weapons of mass destruction.

                The Secretaries of State, Defense, and Energy, and the 
                Director of National Intelligence shall provide the 
                Archivist of the United States with sufficient

[[Page 734]]

                guidance to complete this task. The Archivist shall 
                make public a report on the status of the backlog every 
                6 months.

                3. Delegation of Original Classification Authority.

                Delegations of original classification authority shall 
                be limited to the minimum necessary to implement the 
                order and only those individuals or positions with a 
                demonstrable and continuing need to exercise such 
                authority shall be delegated original classification 
                authority.

                Accordingly, heads of departments and agencies with 
                original classification authority shall commence a 
                review to ensure that all delegations of original 
                classification authority are so limited and otherwise 
                in accordance with section 1.3(c) of the order. Each 
                department and agency shall submit a report on the 
                results of this review to the Director of ISOO within 
                120 days of the date of this memorandum.

                4. Promotion of New Technologies to Support 
                Declassification.

                Striking the critical balance between openness and 
                secrecy is a difficult but necessary part of our 
                democratic form of government. Striking this balance 
                becomes more difficult as the volume and complexity of 
                the information increases. Improving the capability of 
                departments and agencies to identify still-sensitive 
                information and to make declassified information 
                available to the public are integral parts of the 
                classification system.

                Therefore, I am directing that the Secretary of Defense 
                and the Director of National Intelligence each support 
                research to assist the NDC in addressing the cross-
                agency challenges associated with declassification.

                5. Publication. The Archivist of the United States is 
                authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in 
                the Federal Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, December 29, 2009

[FR Doc. E9-31424
Filed 1-4-10; 11:15 am]
Billing code 7515-01-P