IB 

Union Calendar No. 495 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4806 

[Report No. 110–776] 

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 

JULY 24, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 18, 2007] 

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. 


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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 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A key conclusion in the Final Report of the 

9 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 

10 United States (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Com11 mission’’) was the need to prevent over-classification 

12 by the Federal Government. 

13 (2) The 9/11 Commission and others have ob14 served that the over-classification of homeland secu15 rity information interferes with accurate, actionable, 

16 and timely homeland security information sharing, 

17 increases the cost of information security, and need18 lessly limits public access to information. 

19 (3) The over-classification problem, which has 

20 worsened since the 9/11 attacks, causes considerable 

21 confusion about what information can be shared with 

22 whom both internally at the Department of Homeland 

23 Security and with its external partners. This problem 

24 negatively impacts the dissemination of homeland se25 curity information to the Department’s State, local, 


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1 tribal, and territorial homeland security and law en2 forcement partners, private sector customers, and the 

3 public. 

4 (4) Excessive government secrecy stands in the 

5 way of a safer and more secure homeland. This trend 

6 is antithetical to the creation and operation of the in7 formation sharing environment established under sec8 tion 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 

9 Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), and must be 

10 halted and reversed. 

11 (5) To do so, the Department should start with 

12 the understanding that all departmental information 

13 that is not properly classified, or marked as con14 trolled unclassified information and otherwise exempt 

15 from disclosure, should be made available to members 

16 of the public pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United 

17 States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of 

18 Information Act’’). 

19 (6) The Department should also develop and ad20 minister policies, procedures, and programs that pro21 mote compliance with applicable laws, executive or22 ders, and other authorities pertaining to the proper 

23 use of classification markings and the United States 

24 National Archives and Records Administration poli25 cies implementing them. 


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1 SEC. 3. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION WITHIN THE 

2 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

3 Subtitle A of title II of the Homeland Security Act 

4 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

5 the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 210F. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION PROGRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 

8 administer policies, procedures, and programs within the 

9 Department to prevent the over-classification of homeland 

10 security information, terrorism information, weapons of 

11 mass destruction information, and other information with12 in the scope of the information sharing environment estab13 lished under section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and 

14 Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485) that must 

15 be disseminated to prevent and to collectively respond to 

16 acts of terrorism. The Secretary shall coordinate with the 

17 Archivist of the United States and consult with representa18 tives of State, local, tribal, and territorial government and 

19 law enforcement, organizations with expertise in civil 

20 rights, civil liberties, and government oversight, and the 

21 private sector, as appropriate, to develop such policies, pro22 cedures, and programs. 

23 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than one year after 

24 the date of the enactment of the Reducing Over-Classifica25 tion Act of 2008, the Secretary, in administering the poliVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:58 Jul 25, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4806.RH H4806

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1 cies, procedures, and programs required under subsection 

2 (a), shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) create, in consultation with the Archivist of 

4 the United States, standard classified and unclassi5 fied formats for finished intelligence products created 

6 by the Department, consistent with any government7 wide standards, practices or procedures for similar 

8 products; 

9 ‘‘(2) require that all finished intelligence prod10 ucts created by the Department be simultaneously 

11 prepared in the standard unclassified format, pro12 vided that such an unclassified product would reason13 ably be expected to be of any benefit to a State, local, 

14 tribal or territorial government, law enforcement 

15 agency or other emergency response provider, or the 

16 private sector, based on input provided by the Inter17 agency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group 

18 Detail established under section 210D; 

19 ‘‘(3) ensure that such policies, procedures, and 

20 programs protect the national security as well as the 

21 information privacy rights and legal rights of United 

22 States persons pursuant to all applicable law and 

23 policy, including the privacy guidelines for the infor24 mation sharing environment established pursuant to 

25 section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 


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1 Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), as appro2 priate; 

3 ‘‘(4) establish an ongoing auditing mechanism 

4 administered by the Inspector General of the Depart5 ment or other appropriate senior Department official 

6 that randomly selects, on a periodic basis, classified 

7 information from each component of the Department 

8 that generates finished intelligence products to— 

9 ‘‘(A) assess, on an individualized basis, 

10 whether applicable classification policies, proce11 dures, rules, and regulations have been followed; 

12 ‘‘(B) describe any problems with the admin13 istration of the applicable classification policies, 

14 procedures, rules, and regulations, including spe15 cific non-compliance issues; 

16 ‘‘(C) recommend improvements in aware17 ness and training to address them; and 

18 ‘‘(D) report at least annually to the Com19 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of 

20 Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Se21 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, 

22 and the public, in an appropriate format, on the 

23 findings of the Inspector General’s audits under 

24 this section; 


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1 ‘‘(5) establish a process whereby employees may 

2 challenge original classification decisions made by 

3 Department employees or contractors and be rewarded 

4 with specific incentives for successful challenges re5 sulting in the removal of classification markings or 

6 the downgrading of them; 

7 ‘‘(6) inform employees and contractors that fail8 ure to comply with the policies, procedures, and pro9 grams established under this section could subject 

10 them to a series of penalties; and 

11 ‘‘(7) institute a series of penalties for employees 

12 and contractors who repeatedly fail to comply with 

13 the policies, procedures, and programs established 

14 under this section after having received both notice of 

15 their noncompliance and appropriate training or re16 training to address such noncompliance. 

17 ‘‘(c) FINISHED INTELLIGENCE PRODUCT DEFINED.— 

18 The term ‘finished intelligence product’ means a document 

19 in which an intelligence analyst has evaluated, interpreted, 

20 integrated, or placed into context raw intelligence or infor21 mation.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVEN2 TION WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME3 LAND SECURITY. 

4 Subtitle A of title II of the Homeland Security Act 

5 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is further amended by adding 

6 at the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 210G. ENFORCEMENT OF OVER-CLASSIFICATION PRE8 VENTION PROGRAMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS.—The Secretary shall— 

10 ‘‘(1) assess the technologies available or in use at 

11 the Department by which an electronic personal iden12 tification number or other electronic identifying 

13 marker can be assigned to each Department employee 

14 and contractor with original classification authority 

15 in order to— 

16 ‘‘(A) track which documents have been clas17 sified by a particular employee or contractor; 

18 ‘‘(B) determine the circumstances when such 

19 documents have been shared; 

20 ‘‘(C) identify and address over-classification 

21 problems, including the misapplication of classi22 fication markings to documents that do not 

23 merit such markings; and 

24 ‘‘(D) assess the information sharing impact 

25 of any such problems or misuse; 


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1 ‘‘(2) develop an implementation plan for a De2 partment standard for such technology with appro3 priate benchmarks, a timetable for its completion, 

4 and cost estimate for the creation and implementa5 tion of a system of electronic personal identification 

6 numbers or other electronic identifying markers for 

7 all relevant Department employees and contractors; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(3) upon completion of the implementation 

10 plan described in paragraph (2), or not later than 

11 180 days after the date of the enactment of the Reduc12 ing Over-Classification Act of 2008, whichever is ear13 lier, the Secretary shall provide a copy of the plan to 

14 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 

15 Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Se16 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

17 ‘‘(b) TRAINING.—The Secretary, in coordination with 

18 the Archivist of the United States, shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) require annual training for each Depart20 ment employee and contractor with classification au21 thority and who are responsible for analysis, dissemi22 nation, preparation, production, receiving, pub23 lishing, or otherwise communicating written classified 

24 information, including training to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) educate each employee and contractor 

2 about— 

3 ‘‘(i) the Department’s requirement that 

4 all classified finished intelligence products 

5 that they create be simultaneously prepared 

6 in unclassified form in a standard format 

7 prescribed by the Department, provided that 

8 the unclassified product would reasonably 

9 be expected to be of any benefit to a State, 

10 local, tribal, or territorial government, law 

11 enforcement agency, or other emergency re12 sponse provider, or the private sector, based 

13 on input provided by the Interagency 

14 Threat Assessment and Coordination Group 

15 Detail established under section 210D; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the proper use of classification 

17 markings, including portion markings; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) the consequences of over-classi19 fication and other improper uses of classi20 fication markings, including the 

21 misapplication of classification markings to 

22 documents that do not merit such markings, 

23 and of failing to comply with the Depart24 ment’s policies and procedures established 

25 under or pursuant to this section, including 


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1 the negative consequences for the individ2 ual’s personnel evaluation, homeland secu3 rity, information sharing, and the overall 

4 success of the Department’s missions; 

5 ‘‘(B) serve as a prerequisite, once completed 

6 successfully, as evidenced by an appropriate cer7 tificate, for— 

8 ‘‘(i) obtaining classification authority; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(ii) renewing such authority annu11 ally; and 

12 ‘‘(C) count as a positive factor, once com13 pleted successfully, in the Department’s employ14 ment, evaluation, and promotion decisions; and 

15 ‘‘(2) ensure that such program is conducted effi16 ciently, in conjunction with any other security, intel17 ligence, or other training programs required by the 

18 Department to reduce the costs and administrative 

19 burdens associated with the additional training re20 quired by this section. 

21 ‘‘(c) DETAILEE PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) implement a Departmental detailee pro23 gram to detail Departmental personnel to the Na24 tional Archives and Records Administration for one 

25 year, for the purpose of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) training and educational benefit for 

2 the Department personnel assigned so that they 

3 may better understand the policies, procedures 

4 and laws governing original classification au5 thorities; 

6 ‘‘(B) bolstering the ability of the National 

7 Archives and Records Administration to conduct 

8 its oversight authorities over the Department and 

9 other Departments and agencies; and 

10 ‘‘(C) ensuring that the policies and proce11 dures established by the Secretary remain con12 sistent with those established by the Archivist of 

13 the United States; 

14 ‘‘(2) ensure that the program established under 

15 paragraph (1) includes at least one individual for 

16 each Department office with delegated original classi17 fication authority; and 

18 ‘‘(3) in coordination with the Archivist of the 

19 United States, report to Congress not later than 90 

20 days after the conclusion of the first year of the pro21 gram established under paragraph (1), on— 

22 ‘‘(A) the advisability of expanding the pro23 gram on a government-wide basis, whereby other 

24 departments and agencies would send detailees to 


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1 the National Archives and Records Administra2 tion; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the administrative and monetary costs 

4 of full compliance with this section. 

5 ‘‘(d) SUNSET OF DETAILEE PROGRAM.—Except as oth6 erwise provided by law, subsection (c) shall cease to have 

7 effect on December 31, 2012. 

8 ‘‘(e) FINISHED INTELLIGENCE PRODUCT DEFINED.— 

9 The term ‘finished intelligence product’ has the meaning 

10 given the term in section 210F(c).’’. 

11 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT. 

12 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland 

13 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(b)) is amended by add14 ing after the item relating to section 210E the following 

15 new items: 

‘‘Sec. 210F. Over-classification prevention program. 

‘‘Sec. 210G. Enforcement of over-classification prevention programs.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 495 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4806 

[Report No. 110

–776] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to 

other purposes. land security and other information, and for and to promote the sharing of unclassified hometion of homeland security and other information develop a strategy to prevent the over-classificaJULY 24, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS