[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 6575 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 6575
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 10, 2008
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
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
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 governmentwide;
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.
Passed the House of Representatives September 9, 2008.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.