II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2121 

To facilitate and enhance the declassification of information, including in 

the Legislative Branch, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 1, 2015 

Mrs. SHAHEEN 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, 

including in the Legislative Branch, 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 Sep 11 2014 04:24 Oct 06, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2121.IS S2121

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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. 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 eighteen months of the start of the 

16 declassification process, except that agencies may 

17 complete such review within two years of the start 

18 of the declassification process upon the written ap19 proval of the Director of the National Declassifica20 tion Center. 

21 (2) A requirement that Federal agencies with 

22 authority to classify information share their declas23 sification guidance with other such Federal agencies 

24 and with the National Declassification Center. 


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1 SEC. 4. 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. 5. PRESERVATION AND ACCESS TO HISTORICALLY 

14 VALUABLE RECORDS. 

15 Federal agencies shall make every effort to identify 

16 and designate historically valuable records during the ini17 tial classification process in order to ensure preservation 

18 and timely access to such documents and records following 

19 eventual declassification. 

20 SEC. 6. REPORTS ON PILOT PROGRAMS ON IMPROVEMENTS 

21 TO THE DECLASSIFICATION PROCESSES. 

22 (a) REPORTS.—The Public Interest Declassification 

23 Board shall, in consultation with the heads of Federal 

24 agencies that classify and review classified information as 

25 well as the Director of the National Declassification Cen26 ter, submit to Congress reports setting forth options for 


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1 various pilot programs to assess the feasibility and advis2 ability of mechanisms to improve the current declassifica3 tion capabilities of such agencies, including updates of 

4 software and procedures relating to declassification of in5 formation. 

6 (b) MECHANISMS.—In selecting mechanisms to be as7 sessed pursuant to the pilot programs for purposes of sub8 section (a), an emphasis shall be afforded to the selection 

9 of current technologies and practices that could improve 

10 current declassification capabilities, including commercial, 

11 off the shelf-technologies and current best practices of 

12 Federal agencies and the private sector. 

13 SEC. 7. REVIEW OF DECLASSIFICATION PROCEDURES RE14 GARDING INFORMATION CONTROLLED BY 

15 CONGRESS. 

16 The Public Interest Declassification Board shall re17 view the rules of the Senate and of the House of Rep18 resentative regarding the declassification of classified 

19 Committee records, including hearings, meetings, and re20 ports, and make recommendations to improve the consist21 ency and timeliness of declassification efforts. 

22 SEC. 8. REPORTS. 

23 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

24 of this Act, the head of each Federal agency that classifies 


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1 information shall submit to Congress a report that sets 

2 forth the following: 

3 (1) An assessment of feasibility and advisability 

4 of replacing the current classification system of such 

5 agency with a two-tiered system, including an anal6 ysis and assessment of restructuring necessary to 

7 align the level of protection with the level of harm 

8 anticipated in the event of unauthorized release of 

9 sensitive information. 

10 (2) If such agency possesses records with classi11 fied Formerly Restricted Data (FRD), an assess12 ment of the feasibility and advisability of declas13 sifying such records. 

Æ 


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