Reducing Over-Classification Act

Madam Speaker, America's first preventers will face an enormous challenge next Tuesday. They must protect key members of this and the next Administration--especially the first families--and manage crowds of millions for the largest American Presidential Inauguration to date, working seamlessly with federal counterparts to do so.

Unprecedented efforts will be made to share information--especially information about threats. Information sharing was a huge problem leading up to 9/11, and 7 years later, we still have work to do.

When the Inauguration is over, local law enforcement shouldn't have to return to business-as-usual--where it is still difficult to get accurate, actionable, and timely information about threats and tactics to police officers in the field.

Though hard to believe, sheriffs and police chiefs can't readily access the information they need to prevent or disrupt a potential terrorist attack because those at the federal level resist sharing information. Over-classification and pseudo-classification--stamping with any number of sensitive but unclassified markings--remain rampant.

Protecting sources and methods is the only valid reason to refuse to share information. It is no exaggeration that people die and our ability to monitor certain targets can be compromised, if sources and methods are revealed.

But classifying information for the wrong reasons--to protect turf or to avoid embarrassment--is wrong. During my 8 years on the House Intelligence Committee, I became incredibly frustrated with this practice--which the Bush Administration elevated to an art-form.

And, sadly, the practice has spread to our newest federal agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Madam Speaker, the next attack in the United States will not be stopped because a bureaucrat in Washington, DC found out about it in advance. It will be the cop on the beat who is familiar with the rhythms and nuances of his or her own neighborhood who will foil that attack.

H.R. 553, the Reducing Over-Classification Act, and which passed the House unanimously in the 110th Congress, is an attempt to establish a gold standard at DHS when it comes to classification practices.

It requires that all classified intelligence products created at the Department be simultaneously created in a standard unclassified format if such a product would help local law enforcement keep us safe. This is unprecedented.

Furthermore, the bill requires portion marking--the identification of paragraphs in a document that are classified--permitting the remainder of the document to remain unclassified.

The measure will promote accountability by requiring the DHS Inspector General to sample randomly classified intelligence products and identify problems that exist in those samples.

It also directs the Secretary to develop a plan to track electronically how and where information classified by DHS is disseminated so that misuse can be prevented.

Finally, the legislation requires the Secretary to establish extensive annual training on the proper use of the classification regime, and penalties for staff who repeatedly fail to comply with applicable classification policies.

A key to homeland security is personal preparedness. A prepared public is not likely to be terrorized. Access to important non- classified information is essential to ensure preparedness, and this bill protects the public's right to know. It enjoys support by privacy and civil liberty groups.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of first preventers and first responders everywhere, I urge passage of this essential bipartisan legislation, and its prompt consideration in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker,

I rise in strong support of H.R. 553, The Reduce Over-Classification Act of 2009. This measure will allow the expansion of information that the Department of Homeland Security shares with state and local governments. The bill also will require ``portion marking'' which refers to the identification of paragraphs in a document that are classified, but allows the unclassified portions to be viewed.

The measure requires the department to develop the policies, procedures and programs to prevent the over-classification of information relating to weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, homeland security or other matters within the scope of the information- sharing environment that must be disseminated in order to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism.

The practical, day-to-day processes will be done in coordination with the National Archives and Records Administration but in reality it will require full-fledged cooperation from the Department of Homeland Security and the very able staff that make up its workforce.

This legislation requires all finished intelligence products to be prepared in the standard unclassified format, provided that an unclassified product would serve to benefit state and local governments.

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to see that the bill directs the Homeland Security Department, in coordination with the NARA, to require annual training for employees and contractors with classification authority who are responsible for analysis, dissemination, preparation, production, receiving, publishing, or otherwise communicating written classified information. This training would include information on the department's policy for preparing all finished intelligence products in a standard unclassified format, as well as information on the proper use of classification markings, including portion markings. Training would also cover the consequences of over-classification and other improper uses of classification.

Under the bill, the training would serve as a prerequisite, once completed successfully, for obtaining classification authority and renewing that authority on an annual basis, and it would count as a positive factor for employment, evaluation, and promotion.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation also requires that DHS create standard and unclassified formats for the department's finished intelligence products. This bill is designed to ensure citizen and government access to unclassified information but I believe it strikes the right balance between calculated information flow and the protection of national security.

I am pleased Mr. Speaker that Section 210 of this bill allows employees to challenge classification decisions made by department employees or contractors and be rewarded if the classification markings are removed or downgraded.

And my colleagues and I are well aware that no piece of legislation is completed without measures designed to ensure compliance, and that's why it is critical to the ultimate success of this bill that a series of penal provisions were included to reinforce the legislation.

H.R. 553 is about preventing over-classification. My hope is that the legislation will serve as a proper deterrent and move us away from the hoarding of non-classified information that characterized the previous administration.

Open and accessible government is a hallmark of democracy. Citizens shouldn't live in fear of their government. It is OUR government.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this measure.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in very strong support of H.R. 553, the Reducing the Over-Classification Act of 2009. It's an essential part of our national security, and this act is identical to one that passed the House last year, H.R. 4806.

I was proud to work on that legislation with Ms. Harman and my other Intelligence Subcommittee colleagues last year, and I am pleased that we are moving it anew this Congress. Our goal is a simple one, to make DHS the gold standard when it comes to classification practice.

As someone with many years of intelligence experience as a member of the U.S. military, I know that intel is useless if it doesn't get to the people who need it. And I have witnessed personally the missed opportunities that can arise from over-classification.

That's why H.R. 553 is designed to ensure that as much homeland security information as possible is shared with the Department's State, local, tribal and private sector partners, the men and women on the front lines of the Nation's homeland security efforts.

As the 9/11 Commission and others have noted, it is those officers who, during their day-to-day police work, are most likely to uncover a terrorist plot in the making, and those who are best positioned to disrupt or even prevent it. They are not only our first responders, they are also our first preventers.

Unfortunately, what we have heard time and again from those officers is not encouraging. They are not getting important information that can keep people safe because too much of it is stamped ``Top Secret.''

H.R. 553 will promote accountability and best practices at DHS by requiring employees and contractors to use the classification regime the way it was intended: To protect sensitive sources and methods, not to hide embarrassing facts or protect political turf.

Among other things, H.R. 553 will promote accountability by requiring that all classified intelligence products created at the Department be simultaneously created with a standard unclassified format as well if such a product would help police and sheriffs keep us safe. This will help change the intelligence culture that is still far too comfortable with classifying rather than sharing.

H.R. 553, likewise, will promote accountability by requiring the Secretary to create an auditing mechanism for the DHS Inspector General that randomly samples classified intelligence products, identifies problems that exist in those samples, and recommends improvements to fix them.

To further engage Department staff in their efforts to get classification right, H.R. 553 requires the Secretary to establish a process through which employees may challenge original DHS classification decisions and be rewarded for bringing those abuses to light.

The legislation further requires the Secretary to establish penalties for staff who repeatedly fail to comply

with applicable classification policies, despite notice of their noncompliance and an opportunity to undergo retraining.

I will not. I will finish my statement at this time.

Perhaps. H.R. 553 is a bipartisan fix to a decades-old problem that will only get worse if we don't act now.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Ms. Harman for her leadership on this bill. And on behalf of first preventers, first responders everywhere, I urge passage of this essential legislation.

Yes.

Those provisions are removed from the stimulus package, if I'm correct.

I thank my colleague from Texas for the opportunity to speak on this legislation today.

And I think Congress agrees, I think we are going to have a nice bipartisan vote on this legislation. I want to thank the chairman for his hard work on this legislation.

But we have a greater issue that we also need to talk about today, Mr. Speaker. And action is truly needed to rebuild our economy. We know that. The American people know that. And our elected leaders know that we have to not only have good policies for homeland security and national security, but our economic security at home. And unfortunately, the Democrat majority in their so-called stimulus bill, which is really nothing more than a spending bill, does nothing of the sort. It devotes, ``tens of billions of dollars to causes that have little to do with jolting our economy out of recession,'' as the Associated Press says.

Only 3 percent of the funds in the so-called stimulus bill, or the pork barrel bill, are dedicated to road and highway infrastructure projects. And just 2.7 percent is dedicated to small business tax relief, even though we know that 90 percent of Americans are employed by small businesses, and most of the new jobs that this country creates are created by small businesses. And the Democrats' answer to stimulating the economy is not by helping small businesses, but by creating 32 new government programs and spending $646,214 per government job that is created under that bill.

To make matters worse, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that over half the money will be spent between 2011 and 2019, after most economists say this economy will have recovered and we will be out of this recession.

Look, this was nothing more than a partisan opportunity to lard up and load up this piece of legislation and add a bunch of different liberal spending priorities. It's not about a stimulus. It's not about helping the American people through these economic times.

And with so many of my constituents struggling in Western North Carolina just to keep their head above water, this Congress passed an $819 billion spending bill that will do nothing but add to our debt and deficit and cause us massive inflation in the years to come, as well as mounting debt every day. And I'm in agreement with so many of these economists who predict that this legislation will have a disastrous effect on our long term economic security in this country and will do little to stimulate this economy.

Well, the one thing that is certain is the result of this type of legislation will be a massive tax increase by this Democrat Congress in the future. I think this is highly unfortunate.

I think we should come together, as President Obama has said, and work for a bipartisan piece of legislation that will have tax cuts for small businesses in this country, as well as proper infrastructure spending that will help our economy regain its footing, so we can get back to economic growth and creating new jobs and good jobs for my constituents in Western North Carolina, as well as all Americans in all 50 States.

And so with that, I urge this congressional leadership to work together and listen to what President Obama has said.

Mr. Speaker, over-classification of homeland security information is a major barrier to Federal efforts at fostering greater information sharing within the Federal Government as well as with State, local, and tribal entities, and the private sector.

H.R. 553, the Reducing Over-Classification Act, introduced by Congresswoman Jane Harman, tackles this practice in a comprehensive fashion. To that end, H.R. 553 establishes a Classified Information Advisory Officer within DHS's Office of Intelligence and Analysis to develop and disseminate educational materials for State, local, and tribal authorities and the private sector on how to challenge classification designations and, at the same time, assist with the security clearance process.

This bill also tackles the practice of over-classification within the larger Intelligence Community (IC) by directing the Director of National Intelligence to: take new, proactive, steps to promote appropriate access of information by Federal, State, local, and tribal governments with a need to know; issue guidance to standardize, in appropriate cases, the formats for classified and unclassified products; establish policies and procedures requiring the increased use of so-called ``tear lines'' portion markings in intelligence products to foster broader distribution to State, local, and tribal law enforcement and others who need to access such information; and require annual training for each IC employee with the authority to classify material.

I am pleased that H.R. 553 also directs originators of intelligence products to share information that could likely benefit first preventers on the beat with the IC's in-house team of first preventer analysts--the ``ITACG'' or ``Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group.''

The ITACG analysts have the boots-on-the-ground perspective on what information lends itself to cops on the beat. Through this new process, we will have a new mechanism to tackle the stovepiping of information within the IC that we know cops need to keep their communities secure.

Reducing the amount of unnecessary classification and increasing the amount of information shared throughout the public and private sectors will contribute to improving or ability to detect, deter, and prevent terrorist plots.

Nine years after the attacks of September 11th, we must stand together and reject--once and for all--the practice of over- classification, an outgrowth of the outdated ``need to know'' paradigm.

Finally, I would like to applaud the Chairwoman of my Committee's Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment Subcommittee--Representative Harman. She has worked on this problem for many years and is a true champion for all the ``first preventers'' out there that have been kept from accessing intelligence information that they need to protect the public and should be commended for her steadfast efforts on this government-wide challenge.

I urge my colleagues to support this important homeland security bill so that we get it to the President's desk for his signature.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 553, the Reducing Over-Classification Act of 2009, which seeks to address the problem of over-classification of sensitive information.

While classification has an essential role in protecting our country from harm, over-classification is a very serious problem within the Federal Government, and Chair Harman should be commended for her hard work on the bill.

H.R. 553 rightfully concludes that over-classification could interfere with sharing of critically important homeland security information. Unfortunately, because of jurisdictional issues, this bill only applies to the Department of Homeland Security. So, while the goals of this bill should be supported, we remain concerned that this bill may lead to policies that are not uniform throughout the Federal Government.

As this legislation moves forward, we would encourage the Congress to adopt a government-wide approach to the problem of over-classification so that agencies and departments operate with a uniform set of classification policies.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry).

Mr. Speaker, I have one more speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

(Mr. CASSIDY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, the bill we are discussing today rightfully focuses on our physical security. But what of our economic security? What of our future? What of our freedom?

Mr. Speaker, I represent a State that is known for rolling up their sleeves and for working hard. Texans know that prosperity does not come from borrowing and spending but, rather, from working hard and from saving for the future. As I spent this last weekend down in my district, speaking with my constituents about the need to help the economy, the overwhelming message I heard was of the concern that, once again, Washington was out of touch.

My constituents do not want to support a stimulus that creates 30 new government programs. They want a real stimulus that creates real, new jobs. They want tax relief for hardworking Americans, and they want economic relief for businesses, small and large, in order to rebuild our economy. They find the prospect of saddling their children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt to be unthinkable.

Make no mistake. The bipartisan coalition that opposed this misguided measure last week acted simply not to obstruct but, rather, to promote commonsense measures for economic growth. We voted for tax cuts, for better jobs, for long-term growth over short-term gimmicks, and for the post-partisan environment that we saw on

the west front of this very building on January 20.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 553) to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to prevent the over- classification of homeland security and other information and to promote the sharing of unclassified homeland security and other information, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to concur with the Senate amendment to H.R. 553, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

For those who think nothing can happen in this very polarized year and toxic political environment, listen up. Congress is about to pass and send to the President H.R. 553, the Reducing Overclassification Act.

It has taken 3 long years to get to this point. After scores of hearings, the bill passed the House twice. The bill was amended by the Senate and finally passed that body yesterday.

H.R. 553 curbs overclassification, the practice of stamping intelligence ``secret'' for the wrong reasons, often to protect turf or avoid embarrassment. Overclassification prevents the sharing of accurate, actionable, and timely information horizontally across the government and vertically with State and local law enforcement. This is a problem now rampant throughout the intelligence community and one identified by the 9/11 Commission as a major obstacle in preventing future terror attacks.

To change the culture from ``need to know'' to ``need to share,''

I thank the gentleman for his remarks and am pleased that we have had this very polite and informative and bipartisan debate on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, we have no more speakers. If the gentleman from Georgia has no more speakers, then I am prepared to close after he closes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, police, firefighters and other first responders bravely put their lives on the line to protect us. They have proven their ability to unravel plots inside the U.S., like the Torrance, California, police department, which discovered a plot to attack military installations and religious sites in my district.

It is imperative that we give first responders and the public access to the threat information they need to find those among us who would seek to harm us. H.R. 553 ensures that. I urge its prompt passage, and I do hope that the President will sign it into law.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would classify ``intelligence'' as important, but when I was back in my district last weekend, what folks asked me about was the stimulus package. They sense that something is needed, but they also sense, as, I think, all of us do, that what is most important are tax cuts and infrastructure development. Yet the bill that came out last week reminded me a little bit as though my wife had sent me to Wal-Mart and had said, ``I want you to get some bread and meat,'' and instead, I come back with a DVD and a grill. Now, DVDs and grills are great, but someday, you have got to pay the credit card bill.

Right now, we have to focus on the bread and meat--the jobs and the infrastructure--not on the DVDs and grills. I keep on thinking: What would Dave Ramsey say? He is the guy who kind of advises couples on how to get out of financial difficulty. Dave would say, ``Get a job, and stop spending on your credit card.'' Now, the parts of this that are infrastructure and tax cuts are ``get a job,'' but the part of this that is maxing out the credit card and that is putting $2,700 worth of debt on my children and grandchildren going henceforth is the part that Dave would advise against.

I ask that we in Congress follow Dave Ramsey's wisdom--that we focus on tax cuts and infrastructure and forgo the rest.