I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 209 

To require the Archivist of the United States to promulgate regulations 

regarding the use of information control designations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2011 

Ms. SPEIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To require the Archivist of the United States to promulgate 

regulations regarding the use of information control designations, 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 ‘‘Reducing Information 

5 Control Designations Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to increase Government8 wide information sharing and the availability of informa9 tion to the public by standardizing and limiting the use 

10 of information control designations. 


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1 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS RELATING TO INFORMATION CON2 TROL DESIGNATIONS WITHIN THE FEDERAL 

3 GOVERNMENT. 

4 (a) REQUIREMENT TO REDUCE AND MINIMIZE IN5 FORMATION CONTROL DESIGNATIONS.—Each Federal 

6 agency shall reduce and minimize its use of information 

7 control designations on information that is not classified. 

8 (b) ARCHIVIST RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

9 (1) REGULATIONS.—The Archivist of the 

10 United States shall promulgate regulations regard11 ing the use of information control designations. 

12 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations under 

13 this subsection shall address, at a minimum, the fol14 lowing: 

15 (A) Standards for utilizing the information 

16 control designations in a manner that is nar17 rowly tailored to maximize public access to in18 formation. 

19 (B) The process by which information con20 trol designations will be removed. 

21 (C) Procedures for identifying, marking, 

22 dating, and tracking information assigned the 

23 information control designations, including the 

24 identity of officials making the designations. 


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1 (D) Provisions to ensure that the use of in2 formation control designations is minimized and 

3 cannot be used on information— 

4 (i) to conceal violations of law, ineffi5 ciency, or administrative error; 

6 (ii) to prevent embarrassment to Fed7 eral, State, local, tribal, or territorial gov8 ernments or any official, agency, or organi9 zation thereof; any agency; or any organi10 zation; 

11 (iii) to improperly or unlawfully inter12 fere with competition in the private sector; 

13 (iv) to prevent or delay the release of 

14 information that does not require such pro15 tection; 

16 (v) if it is required to be made avail17 able to the public; or 

18 (vi) if it has already been released to 

19 the public under proper authority. 

20 (E) Provisions to ensure that the presump21 tion shall be that information control designa22 tions are not necessary. 

23 (F) Methods to ensure that compliance 

24 with this Act protects national security and pri25 vacy rights. 


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1 (G) The establishment of requirements 

2 that Federal agencies, subject to chapter 71 of 

3 title 5, United States Code, implement the fol4 lowing: 

5 (i) A process whereby an individual 

6 may challenge without retribution the ap7 plication of information control designa8 tions by another individual. 

9 (ii) A method for informing individ10 uals that repeated failure to comply with 

11 the policies, procedures, and programs es12 tablished under this section could subject 

13 them to a series of penalties. 

14 (iii) Penalties for individuals who re15 peatedly fail to comply with the policies, 

16 procedures, and programs established 

17 under this section after having received 

18 both notice of their noncompliance and ap19 propriate training or re-training to address 

20 such noncompliance. 

21 (H) Procedures for members of the public 

22 to be heard regarding improper applications of 

23 information control designations. 

24 (I) A procedure to ensure that all agency 

25 policies and standards for utilizing information 


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1 control designations that are issued pursuant to 

2 subsection (c) be provided to the Archivist and 

3 that such policies and standards are made pub4 licly available on the Web site of the National 

5 Archives and Records Administration. 

6 (3) CONSULTATION.—In promulgating the reg7 ulations, the Archivist shall consult with the heads 

8 of Federal agencies and with representatives of 

9 State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; law 

10 enforcement entities; organizations with expertise in 

11 civil rights, employee and labor rights, civil liberties, 

12 and government oversight; and the private sector, as 

13 appropriate. 

14 (c) AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.—The head of each 

15 Federal agency shall implement the regulations promul16 gated by the Archivist under subsection (b) in the agency 

17 in a manner that ensures that— 

18 (1) information can be shared within the agen19 cy, with other agencies, and with State, local, tribal, 

20 and territorial governments, the private sector, and 

21 the public, as appropriate; 

22 (2) all policies and standards for utilizing infor23 mation control designations are consistent with such 

24 regulations; 


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1 (3) the number of individuals with authority to 

2 apply information control designations is limited; 

3 and 

4 (4) information control designations may be 

5 placed only on the portion of information that re6 quires control and not on the entire material. 

7 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF INFORMATION CONTROL DES8 IGNATION REGULATIONS WITHIN THE FED9 ERAL GOVERNMENT. 

10 (a) INSPECTOR GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—The 

11 Inspector General of each Federal agency, in consultation 

12 with the Archivist, shall randomly audit unclassified infor13 mation with information control designations. In con14 ducting any such audit, the Inspector General shall— 

15 (1) assess whether applicable policies, proce16 dures, rules, and regulations have been followed; 

17 (2) describe any problems with the administra18 tion of the applicable policies, procedures, rules and 

19 regulations, including specific non-compliance issues; 

20 (3) recommend improvements in awareness and 

21 training to address any problems identified under 

22 paragraph (2); and 

23 (4) report to the Committee on Oversight and 

24 Government Reform of the House of Representa25 tives, the Committee on Homeland Security and 


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1 Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Archivist, 

2 and the public on the findings of the Inspector Gen3 eral’s audits under this section. 

4 (b) PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes described in 

6 paragraph (2), the Archivist of the United States 

7 shall require that, at the time of designation of in8 formation, the following shall appear on the informa9 tion: 

10 (A) The name or personal identifier of the 

11 individual applying information control designa12 tions to the information. 

13 (B) The agency, office, and position of the 

14 individual. 

15 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this 

16 paragraph are as follows: 

17 (A) To enable the agency to identify and 

18 address misuse of information control designa19 tions, including the misapplication of informa20 tion control designations to information that 

21 does not merit such markings. 

22 (B) To assess the information sharing im23 pact of any such problems or misuse. 


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1 (c) TRAINING.—The Archivist, subject to chapter 71 

2 of title 5, United States Code, and in coordination with 

3 the heads of Federal agencies, shall— 

4 (1) require training as needed for each indi5 vidual who applies information control designations, 

6 including— 

7 (A) instruction on the prevention of the 

8 overuse of information control designations; 

9 (B) the standards for applying information 

10 control designations; 

11 (C) the proper application of information 

12 control designations, including portion mark13 ings; 

14 (D) the consequences of repeated improper 

15 application of information control designations, 

16 including the misapplication of information con17 trol designations to information that does not 

18 merit such markings, and of failing to comply 

19 with the policies and procedures established 

20 under or pursuant to this section; and 

21 (E) information relating to lessons learned 

22 about improper application of information con23 trol designations, including lessons learned pur24 suant to the regulations and Inspector General 


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1 audits required under this Act and any internal 

2 agency audits; and 

3 (2) ensure that such program is conducted effi4 ciently, in conjunction with any other security, intel5 ligence, or other training programs required by the 

6 agency to reduce the costs and administrative bur7 dens associated with the additional training required 

8 by this section. 

9 (d) DETAILEE PROGRAM.— 

10 (1) REQUIREMENT FOR PROGRAM.—The Archi11 vist, subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United States 

12 Code, shall implement a detailee program to detail 

13 Federal agency personnel, on a nonreimbursable 

14 basis, to the National Archives and Records Admin15 istration, for the purpose of— 

16 (A) training and educational benefit for 

17 agency personnel assigned so that they may 

18 better understand the policies, procedures, and 

19 laws governing information control designa20 tions; 

21 (B) bolstering the ability of the National 

22 Archives and Records Administration to con23 duct its oversight authorities over agencies; and 

24 (C) ensuring that the policies and proce25 dures established by the agencies remain conVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:07 Jan 12, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H209.IH H209

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1 sistent with those established by the Archivist 

2 of the United States. 

3 (2) SUNSET OF DETAILEE PROGRAM.—Except 

4 as otherwise provided by law, this subsection shall 

5 cease to have effect on December 31, 2014. 

6 SEC. 5. RELEASING INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE 

7 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 

8 (a) AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.—The head of each 

9 Federal agency shall ensure that— 

10 (1) information control designations are not a 

11 determinant of public disclosure pursuant to section 

12 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly re13 ferred to as the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’); and 

14 (2) all information in the agency’s possession 

15 that is releasable is made available to members of 

16 the public pursuant to an appropriate request under 

17 such section 552. 

18 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

19 shall be construed to prevent or discourage any Federal 

20 agency from voluntarily releasing to the public any unclas21 sified information that is not exempt from disclosure 

22 under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (com23 monly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’). 

24 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) INFORMATION CONTROL DESIGNATIONS.— 

2 The term ‘‘information control designations’’ means 

3 information dissemination controls, not defined by 

4 Federal statute or by an Executive order relating to 

5 the classification of national security information, 

6 that are used to manage, direct, or route informa7 tion, or control the accessibility of information, re8 gardless of its form or format. The term includes, 

9 but is not limited to, the designations of ‘‘controlled 

10 unclassified information’’, ‘‘sensitive but unclassi11 fied’’, and ‘‘for official use only’’. 

12 (2) INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘information’’ 

13 means any communicable knowledge or documentary 

14 material, regardless of its physical form or charac15 teristics, that is owned by, is produced by or for, or 

16 is under the control of the Federal Government. 

17 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

18 agency’’ means— 

19 (A) any Executive agency, as that term is 

20 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States 

21 Code; 

22 (B) any military department, as that term 

23 is defined in section 102 of such title; and 


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1 (C) any other entity within the executive 

2 branch that comes into the possession of classi3 fied information. 

4 SEC. 7. DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS AND IMPLEMENTA5 TION. 

6 Regulations shall be promulgated in final form under 

7 this Act, and implementation of the requirements of this 

8 Act shall begin, not later than 24 months after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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