II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1464 

To facilitate and enhance the declassification of information that merits 

declassification, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To facilitate and enhance the declassification of information 

that merits declassification, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving American 

5 Access to Information Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The 1994 Joint Security Commission, con9 vened at the request of the Secretary of Defense and 

10 the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency statVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:19 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464

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1 ed that ‘‘[t]he classification system, largely un2 changed since the Eisenhower administration has 

3 grown out of control. More information is being clas4 sified and for extended periods of time. Security 

5 rules proliferate, becoming more complex yet remain6 ing unrelated to the threat. . . . Indeed, the classi7 fication system is not trusted on the inside any more 

8 than it is on the outside. Insiders do not trust it to 

9 protect information that needs protection. Outsiders 

10 do not trust it to release information that does not 

11 need protection’’. 

12 (2) The Public Interest Declassification Board, 

13 notes in its 2012 report that ‘‘[a]gencies are cur14 rently creating petabytes of classified information 

15 annually, which quickly outpaces the amount of in16 formation the Government has declassified in total 

17 in the previous seventeen years since Executive 

18 Order 12958 established the policy of automatic de19 classification for 25 year old records. Without dra20 matic improvement in the declassification process, 

21 the rate at which classified records are being created 

22 will drive an exponential growth in the archival 

23 backlog of classified records awaiting declassifica24 tion, and public access to the nation’s history will 

25 deteriorate further’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION WITH SHORT2 TERM CLASSIFICATION SENSITIVITY. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find4 ings: 

5 (1) Certain information, typically at the 

6 predecisional, tactical, or operational level, is classi7 fied based on its sensitivity with respect to a perti8 nent event. Following the event, the vast majority of 

9 the associated details are no longer sensitive and no 

10 longer need be classified. 

11 (2) This type of time-specific classified informa12 tion should be identified and marked at the time of 

13 classification for automatic declassification without 

14 further review. 

15 (b) SPECIFICATION OF INFORMATION TO BE DE16 CLASSIFIED AUTOMATICALLY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The heads of Federal agen18 cies with authority to classify information shall, in 

19 consultation with the Information Security Oversight 

20 Office, specify the types of information with short21 lived sensitivity that could be automatically declas22 sified without further review. 

23 (2) EXCLUSION FROM SPECIFICATION.—The 

24 types of information specified pursuant to paragraph 

25 (1) shall exclude the following: 


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1 (A) Information on the sources, methods, 

2 tactics, tradecraft, and procedures of members 

3 of the Armed Forces, personnel of the intel4 ligence community, or other personnel per5 forming associated or similar security functions 

6 or activities for the United States Government. 

7 (B) Any other information that could en8 danger the military, intelligence, diplomatic, or 

9 law enforcement personnel, operations, or capa10 bilities of the United States. 

11 (3) REPORT.—The heads of Federal agencies 

12 described in paragraph (1) shall submit to Congress 

13 a report setting forth the following: 

14 (A) The types of information specified 

15 under paragraph (1). 

16 (B) An assessment of the feasibility of im17 plementing a new classification category for the 

18 types of information specified in that para19 graph. 

20 (C) Recommendations, if appropriate, for 

21 legislative action to implement the automatic 

22 declassification of information as described in 

23 that paragraph. 


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1 SEC. 4. ENHANCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL DECLASSIFICA2 TION CENTER. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall take appro4 priate actions to enhance the authority and capacity of 

5 the National Declassification Center under Executive 

6 Order No. 13526, or any successor Executive order, in 

7 order to facilitate, enhance, and advance a government8 wide strategy for the declassification of information. 

9 (b) REQUIRED ACTIONS.—The actions taken under 

10 subsection (a) shall include the following: 

11 (1) A requirement that Federal agencies com12 plete the review of Presidential and Federal records 

13 proposed for declassification, in accordance with pri14 orities established by the National Declassification 

15 Center, within one year of the start of the declas16 sification process, except that agencies may complete 

17 such review within two years of the start of the de18 classification process upon the written approval of 

19 the Director of the National Declassification Center. 

20 (2) A requirement that Federal agencies with 

21 authority to classify information share their declas22 sification guidance with other such Federal agencies 

23 and with the National Declassification Center. 


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1 SEC. 5. PUBLIC CONSULTATION WITH ADVISORY PANEL TO 

2 THE NATIONAL DECLASSIFICATION CENTER. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National De4 classification Center shall provide for consultation between 

5 the advisory panel to the National Declassification Center 

6 and the public. 

7 (b) FREQUENCY.—Consultations under subsection 

8 (a) shall occur not less frequently than the frequency of 

9 the regular meetings of the advisory panel to the National 

10 Declassification Center and, to the extent practicable, 

11 shall occur concurrently with the meetings of the advisory 

12 panel. 

13 SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF PUBLIC INTEREST DECLASSIFICA14 TION BOARD. 

15 Section 710(b) of the Public Interest Declassification 

16 Act of 2000 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note) is amended by striking 

17 ‘‘2014’’ and inserting ‘‘2018’’. 

18 SEC. 7. PRESERVATION AND ACCESS TO HISTORICALLY 

19 VALUABLE RECORDS. 

20 Federal agencies shall take appropriate actions to 

21 identify and designate historically valuable records as soon 

22 as possible after their creation in order to ensure the pres23 ervation and future accessibility of such documents and 

24 records. 


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1 SEC. 8. REPORTS ON PILOT PROGRAMS ON IMPROVEMENTS 

2 TO THE DECLASSIFICATION PROCESSES. 

3 (a) REPORTS.—The heads of Federal agencies that 

4 classify information shall, in consultation with the Direc5 tor of the National Declassification Center, submit to Con6 gress reports setting forth options for various pilot pro7 grams to assess the feasibility and advisability of mecha8 nisms to improve the current declassification capabilities 

9 of such agencies, including updates of software and proce10 dures relating to declassification of information. 

11 (b) MECHANISMS.—In selecting mechanisms to be as12 sessed pursuant to the pilot programs for purposes of sub13 section (a), an emphasis shall be afforded to the selection 

14 of current technologies and practices that could improve 

15 current declassification capabilities, including commercial, 

16 off the shelf-technologies and current best practices of 

17 Federal agencies and the private sector. 

18 SEC. 9. REPORTS. 

19 Not later than one year after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the head of each Federal agency that 

21 classifies information shall submit to Congress a report 

22 that sets forth the following: 

23 (1) An assessment of feasibility and advisability 

24 of replacing the current classification system of such 

25 agency with a two-tiered system, including an anal26 ysis and assessment of restructuring necessary to 


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1 align the level of protection with the level of harm 

2 anticipated in the event of unauthorized release of 

3 sensitive information. 

4 (2) If such agency possesses records with classi5 fied Formerly Restricted Data (FRD), an assess6 ment of the feasibility and advisability of declas7 sifying such records that have no national security 

8 value. 

Æ 


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