STATUS REPORT
clarified, and stricter, standards for classifying information. It further provides that government information "shall not be considered for classification unless its unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security" according to specified criteria, and furthermore provides explicit reasons for which classification is prohibited. The Order also limits the delegation of classification authority within agencies, and restores the presumption against classification in cases of "significant doubt." It also requires agencies to undertake comprehensive review of their classification practices, issue guidelines to facilitate proper and uniform classification, and to create procedures for keeping their guidelines current. The Order also tightens the standards for keeping information classified for more than 25 years, and provides that no information may remain classified indefinitely.
Executive Order 13526 also establishes a National Declassification Center within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The National Declassification Center is charged with streamlining the declassification process, overseeing quality assurance of agency declassification efforts, and implementing standardized training for the declassification of government records determined to have permanent historical value. Finally, the Order instructs the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) within the National Archives Office to implement the Order by issuing directives, "binding on the agencies."[1] It furthermore authorizes the Director of ISOO to report violations of the Order, and explicitly contemplates sanctions for government officers and employees who knowingly or negligently "classify or continue the classification of information in violation of [the Order] or any implementing directive," among other reasons. The Order also requires agency heads to provide the Director of ISOO with reports summarizing their efforts to review comprehensively their classification guidance. In the Presidential Memorandum accompanying Executive Order 13526, President Obama explained that the Order should "produce measurable progress towards greater openness and transparency in the Government's classification and declassification programs."
NARA has taken important steps to implement the Order and to ensure that agencies comply with it. In January 2011, the Director of ISOO advised senior agency officials with responsibility to undertake comprehensive review of their classification standards and to facilitate their declassification efforts to issue periodic status reports on their progress. In June 2010, the National Declassification Center (NDC) created by the Order held an open forum seeking public participation and feedback in response to the NDC's draft plan to implement the Order and to prioritize declassification efforts. The NDC made clear that its efforts would focus on the declassification of government documents "determined to be of high public interest." Following that forum and publication of a draft implementation plan, the NDC issued a final public plan to implement the Order, on which it continues to invite public comment. The NDC also plans biannual reports tracking progress on agency declassification efforts.
Executive Order 13526 has already begun to have an effect. According to the ISOO's April 2011 report, executive branch agencies in fiscal year 2010 reduced their personnel authorized to classify documents by 7%, recording their lowest number to date. Agencies also employed a 10-years-or-fewer classification designation for 74% of all original classification
- ↑ The Open Government Directive also requires agencies to include information about their declassification activities as part of their Open Government plans.
22
