[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[April 17, 1995]
[Pages 540-541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Executive Order on Classified National Security 
Information
April 17, 1995

    Today I have signed an Executive order reforming the Government's 
system of secrecy. The order will lift the veil on millions of existing 
documents, keep a great many future documents from ever being 
classified, and still maintain necessary controls over information that 
legitimately needs to be guarded in the interests of national security.
    In issuing this order, I am seeking to bring the system for 
classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security 
information into line with our vision of American democracy in the post-
Cold War world.
    This order strikes an appropriate balance. On the one hand, it will 
sharply reduce the permitted level of secrecy within our Government, 
making available to the American people and posterity most documents of 
permanent historical value that were maintained in secrecy until now.
    On the other, the order enables us to safeguard the information that 
we must hold in confidence to protect our Nation and our citizens. We 
must continue to protect information that is critical to the pursuit of 
our national security interests. There are some categories of 
information--for example, the war plans we may employ or the identities 
of clandestine human assets--that must remain protected.
    This order also will reduce the sizable costs of secrecy--the 
tangible costs of needlessly guarding documents and the intangible costs 
of depriving ourselves of the fullest possible flow of information.
    This order establishes many firsts: Classifiers will have to justify 
what they classify; employees will be encouraged and expected to 
challenge improper classification and protected from retribution for 
doing so; and large-scale declassification won't be dependent on the 
availability of individuals to conduct a line-by-line review. Rather, we 
will automatically declassify hundreds of millions of pages of 
information that were classified in the past 50 years.
    Similarly, we will no longer tolerate the excesses of the current 
system. For example, we will resolve doubtful calls about classification 
in favor of keeping the information unclassified. We will not permit the 
reclassification of information after it has been declassified and 
disclosed under proper authority. We will authorize agency heads to 
balance the public interest in disclosure against the national security 
interest in making declassification decisions. And, we will no longer 
presumptively classify certain categories of information, whether or not 
the specific information otherwise meets the strict standards for 
classification. At the same time, however, we will maintain every 
necessary safeguard and procedure to assure that appropriately 
classified information is fully protected.
    Taken together, these reforms will greatly reduce the amount of 
information that we classify in the first place and the amount that 
remains classified. Perhaps most important, the reforms will create a 
classification system that Americans can trust to protect our national 
security in a reasonable, limited, and cost-effective manner.
    In keeping with my goals and commitments, this order was drafted in 
an unprecedented environment of openness. We held open hearings and 
benefitted from the recommendations of interested Committees of Congress 
and nongovernmental organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals. 
The order I have signed today is stronger because of the advice we 
received

[[Page 541]]

from so many sources. I thank all those who have helped to establish 
this new system as a model for protecting our national security within 
the framework of a Government of, by, and for the people.

                                                      William J. Clinton

The White House,

April 17, 1995.

Note: The Executive order is listed in Appendix D at the end of this 
volume.