I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 854 

To require the Archivist of the United States to promulgate regulations 

to prevent the over-classification of information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 

Mr. CLAY (for himself and Mr. TOWNS) 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 to prevent the over-classification of information, 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 ‘‘Over-Classification Re5 duction 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 applying standards and practices to 

10 reduce improper classification. 


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1 SEC. 3. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION WITHIN THE 

2 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

3 (a) ARCHIVIST RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

4 (1) REGULATIONS.—The Archivist of the 

5 United States, in consultation with the heads of af6 fected Federal agencies, shall promulgate regulations 

7 to prevent the over-classification of information. 

8 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations under 

9 this subsection shall— 

10 (A) identify specific requirements to pre11 vent the over-classification of information, in12 cluding for determining— 

13 (i) when classified products should be 

14 prepared in a similar format Government15 wide; and 

16 (ii) when classified products should 

17 also be prepared in an unclassified format; 

18 taking into consideration whether an un19 classified product would reasonably be ex20 pected to be of any benefit to a State, 

21 local, tribal or territorial government, law 

22 enforcement agency, or other emergency 

23 response provider, the private sector, or 

24 the public; 


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1 (B) ensure that compliance with this Act 

2 protects national security and privacy rights; 

3 and 

4 (C) establish requirements for Federal 

5 agencies to implement, subject to chapter 71 of 

6 title 5, United States Code, including the fol7 lowing: 

8 (i) The process whereby an individual 

9 may challenge without retribution classi10 fication decisions by another individual and 

11 be rewarded with specific incentives for 

12 successful challenges resulting in— 

13 (I) the removal of improper clas14 sification markings; or 

15 (II) the correct application of ap16 propriate classification markings. 

17 (ii) A method for informing individ18 uals that repeated failure to comply with 

19 the regulations promulgated under this 

20 section could subject them to a series of 

21 penalties. 

22 (iii) Penalties for individuals who re23 peatedly fail to comply with the regulations 

24 promulgated under this section after hav25 ing received both notice of their noncompliVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:30 Feb 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H854.IH H854

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1 ance and appropriate training or re-train2 ing to address such noncompliance. 

3 (3) CONSULTATION.—The regulations shall be 

4 promulgated in consultation, as appropriate, with 

5 representatives of State, local, tribal, and territorial 

6 governments; law enforcement entities; organizations 

7 with expertise in civil rights, employee and labor 

8 rights, civil liberties, and Government oversight; and 

9 the private sector. 

10 (4) DEADLINE.—The regulations under this 

11 subsection shall be promulgated in final form not 

12 later than one year after the date of the enactment 

13 of this Act. 

14 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—Con15 sistent with the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

16 App.) and section 17 of the Central Intelligence Agency 

17 Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 403q), the Inspector General of 

18 each affected Federal agency, in consultation with the Ar19 chivist, shall randomly audit classified information from 

20 each component of the agency with employees that have 

21 classification authority. In conducting any such audit, the 

22 Inspector General shall— 

23 (1) assess whether applicable classification poli24 cies, procedures, rules, and regulations have been 

25 followed; 


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1 (2) describe any problems with the administra2 tion of the applicable classification policies, proce3 dures, rules, and regulations, including specific non4 compliance issues; 

5 (3) recommend improvements in awareness and 

6 training to address any problems identified under 

7 paragraph (2); and 

8 (4) report to Congress, the Archivist, and the 

9 public, in an appropriate format, on the findings of 

10 the Inspector General’s audits under this section. 

11 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVEN12 TION WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 

13 (a) PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS.— 

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

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

16 shall require that, at the time of classification of in17 formation, the following shall appear on the informa18 tion: 

19 (A) The name, personal identifier, or 

20 unique agency identifier of the individual apply21 ing classification markings to the information. 

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

23 individual. 

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

25 paragraph are as follows: 


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1 (A) To enable the agency to identify and 

2 address over-classification problems, including 

3 the classification of information that should not 

4 be classified. 

5 (B) To assess the information sharing im6 pact of any such problems. 

7 (b) TRAINING.—When implementing the security 

8 education and training program pursuant to Executive 

9 Order 12958, Executive Order 12829, and successor ap10 propriate Executive Orders, the Archivist, subject to chap11 ter 71 of title 5, United States Code, shall, in consultation 

12 with heads of affected Federal agencies— 

13 (1) integrate training to educate about— 

14 (A) the prevention of over-classification of 

15 information; 

16 (B) the proper use of classification mark17 ings, including portion markings; 

18 (C) the consequences of over-classification 

19 and other repeated improper uses of classifica20 tion markings, including the misapplication of 

21 classification markings to information that does 

22 not merit such markings, and of failing to com23 ply with the policies and procedures established 

24 under or pursuant to this section, including the 

25 negative consequences for the individual’s perVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:30 Feb 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H854.IH H854

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1 sonnel evaluation, information sharing, and the 

2 overall success of the agency’s missions; and 

3 (D) information relating to lessons learned 

4 from implementation of the regulations includ5 ing affected Federal agency internal audits and 

6 Inspector General audits, as provided under 

7 this Act; and 

8 (2) ensure that such program is conducted effi9 ciently, in conjunction with any other security, intel10 ligence, or other training programs required by the 

11 agency to reduce the costs and administrative bur12 dens associated with the additional training required 

13 by this section. 

14 (c) DETAILEE PROGRAM.— 

15 (1) REQUIREMENT FOR PROGRAM.—The Archi16 vist, subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United States 

17 Code, in consultation with heads of affected Federal 

18 agencies, shall implement a detailee program to de19 tail Federal agency personnel, on a nonreimbursable 

20 basis, to the National Archives and Records Admin21 istration for the purpose of— 

22 (A) training and educational benefit for 

23 the agency personnel assigned so that they may 

24 better understand the policies, procedures and 

25 laws governing classification authorities; 


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1 (B) bolstering the ability of the National 

2 Archives and Records Administration to con3 duct its oversight authorities over agencies; and 

4 (C) ensuring that the policies and proce5 dures established by the agencies remain con6 sistent with those established by the Archivist 

7 of the United States. 

8 (2) SUNSET OF DETAILEE PROGRAM.—Except 

9 as otherwise provided by law, this subsection shall 

10 cease to have effect on December 31, 2012. 

11 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) INFORMATION.—The term ‘‘information’’ 

14 means any communicable knowledge or documentary 

15 material, regardless of its physical form or charac16 teristics, that is owned by, is produced by or for, or 

17 is under the control of the Federal Government. 

18 (2) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

19 agency’’ means— 

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

21 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States 

22 Code; 

23 (B) any military department, as that term 

24 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 (3) AFFECTED FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 

5 ‘‘affected Federal agency’’ means any Federal agen6 cy that employs an individual with original or deriva7 tive classification authority. 

Æ 


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