I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4806 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a strategy to 

prevent the over-classification of homeland security and other information 

and to promote the sharing of unclassified homeland security and other 

information, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 18, 2007 

Ms. HARMAN (for herself, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mrs. 

CHRISTENSEN, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DICKS, Mr. CARNEY, 

Ms. CLARKE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, and Mr. ETHERIDGE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a strategy to prevent the over-classification of homeland 

security and other information and to promote the sharing of unclassified homeland security and other 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 ‘‘Reducing Over-Classi5 fication Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY STRATEGY 

2 ON OVER-CLASSIFICATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title II of the Home4 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 210F. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY STRAT7 EGY ON OVER-CLASSIFICATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Se9 curity or the Secretary’s designee shall develop and imple10 ment a Department-wide strategy to prevent the over-clas11 sification of information within the scope of the informa12 tion sharing environment established under section 1016 

13 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act 

14 of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), including homeland security in15 formation, terrorism information, and weapons of mass 

16 destruction information, that includes a sensitive and 

17 shared information program for the creation and sharing 

18 of unclassified information of a sensitive nature. 

19 ‘‘(b) STRATEGY.—The strategy developed under sub20 section (a) shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) foster sharing of homeland security infor22 mation, terrorism information, and weapons of mass 

23 destruction information at the Department; 

24 ‘‘(2) require that— 

25 ‘‘(A) all intelligence documents and other 

26 information created by the Department be iniVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:09 Dec 20, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4806.IH H4806

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1 tially prepared in unclassified form before any 

2 version of those documents is created that is in 

3 classified form; 

4 ‘‘(B) if there is significant doubt about the 

5 need to classify information, the information 

6 not be classified; 

7 ‘‘(C) if there is significant doubt about the 

8 appropriate level of classification of informa9 tion, the information be classified at the lower 

10 level; 

11 ‘‘(D) documents only be classified for the 

12 limited purpose of protecting sensitive intel13 ligence sources or methods; and 

14 ‘‘(E) classified intelligence documents and 

15 other information be declassified as soon as 

16 they no longer meet the criteria for classifica17 tion; 

18 ‘‘(3) include a sensitive and shared information 

19 program that— 

20 ‘‘(A) ensures that sensitive and unclassi21 fied information can be shared across the De22 partment and with State, local, and tribal gov23 ernments and the private sector as needed; 

24 ‘‘(B) ensures that the Department can pro25 tect sensitive information and the information 


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1 privacy rights and other legal rights of United 

2 States persons; 

3 ‘‘(C) ensures that there are a minimal 

4 number of categories and corresponding mark5 ings and that such markings are— 

6 ‘‘(i) defined by the Secretary for use 

7 in all Department components; 

8 ‘‘(ii) designed to allow wide informa9 tion sharing to appropriate audiences as 

10 defined by the Secretary; 

11 ‘‘(iii) used only upon an affirmative 

12 showing, applying standards clearly defined 

13 and explained by the Secretary, that the 

14 security need for a marking outweighs the 

15 public interest in disclosure; and 

16 ‘‘(iv) of limited duration not to exceed 

17 90 days unless an affirmative showing as 

18 described in subparagraph (iii) is made 

19 that an extension, of similar limited dura20 tion, is warranted; 

21 ‘‘(D) includes processes by which— 

22 ‘‘(i) Department personnel, personnel 

23 of other Departments and agencies of the 

24 Federal Government, or the public may 

25 challenge the appropriateness of a marking 


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1 on a document and seek the removal of the 

2 marking; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) documents with expired markings 

4 that have not been extended are systemati5 cally generated in an unclassified format 

6 without the marking; and 

7 ‘‘(E) supercedes any existing policies and 

8 procedures relating to the creation, control, and 

9 sharing of unclassified information of a sen10 sitive nature; 

11 ‘‘(4) include a system of financial and other in12 centives and disincentives to encourage Department 

13 personnel to use classified and sensitive and shared 

14 information program markings properly, including 

15 incentives and disincentives that impact the career 

16 advancement potential and bonus eligibility of an 

17 employee; 

18 ‘‘(5) include a training program for each De19 partment employee and contractor who analyzes, dis20 seminates, prepares, produces, receives, publishes, or 

21 otherwise communicates information within the 

22 scope of the information sharing environment that 

23 educates personnel about— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Department’s format for intel2 ligence and other information products, includ3 ing the requirements under paragraph (2); 

4 ‘‘(B) the proper use of classification mark5 ings, including portion markings, and sensitive 

6 and shared information program markings; 

7 ‘‘(C) the consequences of improperly using 

8 classification markings and of failing to use the 

9 Department’s format for intelligence and other 

10 information products, including the negative 

11 consequences for homeland security, informa12 tion sharing, and the overall success of the De13 partment’s missions; 

14 ‘‘(D) the incentives and disincentives re15 ferred to in paragraph (4); and 

16 ‘‘(E) procedures for making classification 

17 challenges and requests for declassification; 

18 ‘‘(6) include policies and procedures designed to 

19 encourage Departments and agencies that provide 

20 intelligence and other information to the Depart21 ment to provide such intelligence or other informa22 tion— 

23 ‘‘(A) in an unclassified form that meets 

24 the Department’s intelligence and information 

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1 fidence that the Department or agency sharing 

2 the information has in the unclassified product; 

3 ‘‘(B) if necessary, in a form with unclassi4 fied information contained at the beginning of 

5 the document and the classified portion of the 

6 document at the end of the document; and 

7 ‘‘(C) if necessary, with a sensitive and 

8 shared information marking that complies with 

9 the program referred to in paragraph (3); 

10 ‘‘(7) include an ongoing auditing mechanism 

11 administered by a designee of the Secretary or the 

12 Secretary’s designee referred to in subsection (a) 

13 that randomly selects classified and sensitive and 

14 shared information program materials from all rel15 evant components of the Department to— 

16 ‘‘(A) assess whether applicable classifica17 tion and sensitive and shared information pro18 gram policies, procedures, rules, and regulations 

19 have been followed; 

20 ‘‘(B) describe for managers and other su21 pervisory personnel any problem trends with 

22 over-classification and abuse of sensitive and 

23 shared information program markings and rec24 ommend improvements in awareness and train25 ing to address such trends; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) identify individual employees who re2 quire re-training, notify such employees and the 

3 managers and other supervisors of such employ4 ees of the need for such re-training, and record 

5 subsequent re-training by such employees in the 

6 personnel file of such employees; 

7 ‘‘(8) include the creation of an independent De8 partment classification review board to— 

9 ‘‘(A) ensure that intelligence and other in10 formation is declassified as soon as it no longer 

11 meets classification criteria; 

12 ‘‘(B) facilitate and review requests for de13 classification and classification challenges; 

14 ‘‘(C) review Department policies, proce15 dures, and practices that foster the goals of the 

16 strategy; and 

17 ‘‘(D) make recommendations for improve18 ments to such policies, procedures, and prac19 tices; 

20 ‘‘(9) include an assessment of the technologies 

21 available or in use at the Department by which an 

22 electronic personal identification number or other 

23 electronic identifying marker can be assigned to each 

24 Department employee with classification authority or 


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1 authority to use sensitive and shared information 

2 program markings— 

3 ‘‘(A) to track which, when, and how many 

4 documents have been classified or marked as 

5 sensitive and shared information by a particular 

6 employee; 

7 ‘‘(B) to determine with whom and how 

8 often any such documents have been shared; 

9 ‘‘(C) to address any over-classification 

10 problems or abuse of the sensitive and shared 

11 information program; 

12 ‘‘(D) to assess the information sharing im13 pact of any such problems or abuse; and 

14 ‘‘(E) including a cost estimate for imple15 menting any such technologies on a Depart16 ment-wide basis and an implementation plan for 

17 adopting such technologies; and 

18 ‘‘(10) apply to all personnel and contractors of 

19 the Department. 

20 ‘‘(c) INITIAL REPORT; IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later 

21 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this sec22 tion, the Secretary shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) submit to Congress a report that in24 cludes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the strategy developed under sub2 section (a); 

3 ‘‘(B) an indication of which parts of the 

4 strategy can be accomplished without the enact5 ment of legislation and which cannot; and 

6 ‘‘(C) recommendations for the enactment 

7 of legislation to accomplish the parts of the 

8 strategy that the Secretary indicates require the 

9 enactment of legislation; and 

10 ‘‘(2) begin implementation of the parts of the 

11 strategy that the Secretary indicates in accordance 

12 with paragraph (1) can be accomplished without the 

13 enactment of legislation. 

14 ‘‘(d) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—The Secretary shall 

15 annually submit to Congress an update on the implemen16 tation of the strategy developed under subsection (a) with 

17 the President’s budget submission for each fiscal year pur18 suant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL AUDIT BY INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of 

21 the Department shall conduct an annual audit of the 

22 strategy developed and implemented under sub23 section (a) to— 

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1 sified and sensitive and shared information have 

2 been followed; and 

3 ‘‘(B) track the progress of the Department 

4 in implementing the strategy over time on a 

5 component by component basis. 

6 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after 

7 the completion of an audit under paragraph (1), the 

8 Inspector General of the Department shall submit to 

9 Congress a report on the audit and recommenda10 tions for improvement of the strategy and the imple11 mentation of the strategy. 

12 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION SHARING ENVIRONMENT.— 

14 The term ‘information sharing environment’ means 

15 the information sharing environment established 

16 pursuant to section 1016(b) of the Intelligence Re17 form and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (6 

18 U.S.C. 485(b)). 

19 ‘‘(2) SENSITIVE AND SHARED INFORMATION.— 

20 The term ‘sensitive and shared information’ means 

21 unclassified information that does not meet the 

22 standards for classification under Executive Order 

23 12958 (or any succeeding executive order) but is 

24 pertinent to the national interests of the United 

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1 side the Federal Government and requires protection 

2 from unauthorized disclosure, special handling safe3 guards, or prescribed limits on exchange or dissemi4 nation.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con6 tents in section 1(b) of such Act (6 U.S.C. 101(b)) is 

7 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

8 210E the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 210F. Department of Homeland Security strategy on over-classification.’’. 

Æ 


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