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March  11,  1983 
MEMORANDUM 
TO 
FROM 
SUBJECT: 
Heads  of  Offices,  Boards, 
Divisions  and  Bureaus 
William  French  Smith 
Attorney  General 
i4^ 
Presidential  Directive  on  Safeguarding 
National  Securitv  Information 
The  President  has  issued  a  directive  to  strengthen  our 
efforts  to  safeguard  national  security  information  from  unlawful 
disclosure.   This  directive,  a  copy  of  which  is  attached,  is  based 
upon  the  recommendations  of  an  interdepartmental  group  chaired  by 
the  Department  of  Justice.   I  fully  support  the  President's  policy 
and  expect  that  it  will  be  faithfully  implemented  throughout  the 
Department. 
This  directive  does  not  alter  the  existing  obligation  of 
Department  personnel  to  comply  with  statutes  and  regulations 
pertaining  to  national  security  information.   We  must  be  careful 
to  avoid  the  unnecessary  or  improper  use  of  classification. 
Whenever  possible,  information  should  be  kept  unclassified  or 
declassified  so  as  to  permit  public  access.   However,  information 
that  is  properly  classified  in  the  interest  of  national  security 
must  be  protected  from  unauthorized  disclosure. 
Many  of  the  specific  requirements  of  the  directive  involve  no 
change  from  current  Department  of  Justice  policy. 
—  The  use  of  nondisclosure  agreements  and  the 
requirement  of  prepublication  review  in 
appropriate  cases  are  consistent  with  current 
policies.   More  detailed  guidance  on  these 
policies  will  be  provided  in  the  near  future. 
—  The  directive  requires  no  change  in  existing 
Department  policies  on  use  of  the  polygraph, 
with  regard  to  attorneys  or  FBI  employees. 
Policies  with  regard. to  employees  in  the 
competitive  service  will  be  changed  to  conform 
with  expected  revisions  in  OPM  regulations  on 
this  subject.
-2- 
—   Internal  investigations  of  unauthorized 
disclosures  will  continue  to  be  coordinated  by 
the  Office  of  Professional  Responsibility,  with 
assistance  from  the  FBI  as  needed. 
To  the  extent  implementation  of  the  President's  directive 
requires  changes  in  Department  of  Justice  policies  and  procedures, 
you  will  be  kept  fully  informed.
Embargoed  for  Conclusion  of  Background  Briefing 
Held  March  11,  1983 f    at  the  Department  of  Justice 
Fact  Sheet 
Presidential  Directive  on 
Safeguarding  National  Security  Information 
Background 
Unlawful  disclosures  of  classified  information  damage  national 
security  by  providing  valuable  information  to  our  adversaries, 
by  hampering  the  ability  of  our  intelligence  agencies  to 
function  effectively,  and  by  impairing  the  conduct  of  American 
foreign  policy. 
The  President  has  issued  a  directive  requiring  that  additional 
steps  be  taken  to  protect  against  unlawful  disclosures  of 
classified  information. 
This  directive  is  based  on  the  recommendations  of  an  inter- 
departmental group  convened  by  the  Attorney  General. 
Scope  of  Directive 
The  directive  deals  only  with  disclosures  of  classified 
information. 
By  Executive  Order,  the  only  information  that  can  be  classi- 
fied is  information  which  "reasonably  could  be  expected  to 
cause  damage  to  the  national  security"  if  released  without 
proper  authorization.   (E.O.  12356  §  1.1(a)(3).) 
The  Executive  Order  also  prohibits  the  use  of  classification 
to  conceal  violations  of  law,  inefficiency  or  administrative 
error,  or  to  prevent  an  embarrassment  to  a  government  agency 
or  employee.   (E.O.  12356  §  1.6(a).) 
Summary  of  Provisions 
The  directive  imposes  additional  restrictions  upon  government 
employees  who  are  entrusted  with  access  to  classified  infor- 
mation, and  upon  government  agencies  that  originate  or  handle 
classified  information. 
More  employees  will  be  required  to  sign 
nondisclosure  agreements,  including 
provisions  for  prepublication  review,  such 
as  were  approved  by  the  Supreme  Court  in 
United  States  v.  Snepp  (1980).
Safeguarding  National  Security  Information 
As  stated  in  Executive  Order  12356,  only  that  information  whose 
disclosure  would  harm  the  national  security  interests  of  the 
United  States  may  be  classified.   Every  effort  should  be  made  to 
declassify  information  that  no  longer  requires  protection  in  the 
interest  of  national  security. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  safeguarding  against  unlawful  disclosures 
of  properly  classified  information  is  a  matter  of  grave  concern 
and  high  priority  for  this  Administration.   In  addition  to  the 
requirements  set  forth  in  Executive  Order  12356,  and  based  on  the 
recommendations  contained  in  the  interdepartmental  report 
forwarded  by  the  Attorney  General,  I  direct  the  following: 
1.    Each  agency  of  the  Executive  Branch  that  originates 
or  handles  classified  information  shall  adopt  internal  procedures 
to  safeguard  against  unlawful  disclosures  of  classified 
information.   Such  procedures  shall  at  a  minimum  provide  as 
follows: 
a.  All  persons  with  authorized  access  to  classified 
information  shall  be  required  to  sign  a  nondisclosure 
agreement  as  a  condition  of  access.   This  requirement  may 
be  implemented  prospectively  by  agencies  for  which  the 
administrative  burden  of  compliance  would  otherwise  be 
excessive . 
b.  All  persons  with  authorized  access  to  Sensitive 
Compartrnented  Information  (SCI)  shall  be  required  to  sign 
a  nondisclosure  agreement  as  a  condition  of  access  to  SCI 
and  other  classified  information-   All  such  agreements 
must  include  a  provision  for  prepublication  review  to 
assure  deletion  of  SCI  and  other  classified  information. 
c.  All  agreements  required  in  paragraphs  l.a.  and 
l.b.  must  be  in  a  form  determined  by  the  Department  of 
Justice  to  be  enforceable  in  a  civil  action  brought  by 
the  United  States.   The  Director,  Information  Security 
Oversight  Office  (ISOO) ,  shall  develop  standardized 
forms  that  satisfy  these  requirements. 
d.  Appropriate  policies  shall  be  adopted  to  govern 
contacts  between  media  representatives  and  agency  personnel, 
so  as    to  reduce  the  opportunity  for  negligent  or  deliberate 
disclosures  of  classified  information.   All  persons  with 
authorized  access  to  classified  information  shall  be 
clearly  apprised  of  the  agency's  policies  in  this  regard.
2.    Each  agency  of  the  Executive  branch  that  originates  or 
handles  classified  information  shall  adopt  internal  procedures  to 
govern  the  reporting  and  investigation  of  unauthorized  disclosures  of 
such  information.   Such  procedures  shall  at  a  minimum  provide  that: 
~   '    '      a.    All  such  disclosures  that  the"  agency  "cons" iders  to 
be  seriously  damaging  to  its  mission  and  responsibilities 
shall  be  evaluated  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the  information 
disclosed  and  the  extent  to  which  it  had  been  disseminated. 
b.  The  agency  shall  conduct  a  preliminary  internal 
investigation  prior  to  or  concurrently  with  seeking 
investigative  assistance  from  other  agencies. 
c.  The  agency  shall  maintain  records  of  disclosures 
so  evaluated  and  investigated. 
d.  Agencies  in  the  possession  of  classified  information 
originating  with  another  agency  shall  cooperate  with  the 
originating  agency  by  conducting  internal  investigations  of 
the  unauthorized  disclosure  of  such  information. 
e.  Persons  determined  by  the  agency  to  have  knowingly 
made  such  disclosures  or  to  have  refused  cooperation  with 
investigations  of  such  unauthorized  disclosures  will  be  denied 
further  access    to  classified  information  and  subjected  to 
other  administrative  sanctions  as  appropriate. 
3.    Unauthorized  disclosures  of  classified  information  shall 
be  reported  to  the  Department  of  Justice  and  the  Information 
Security  Oversight  Office,  as  required  by  statute  and  Executive 
orders.   The  Department  of  Justice  shall  continue  to  review 
reported  unauthorized  disclosures  of  classified  information  to 
determine  whether  FBI  investigation  is  warranted.   Interested 
departments  and  agencies  shall  be  consulted  in  developing  criteria 
for  evaluating  such  matters  and  in  determining  which  cases  should 
receive  investigative  priority.   The  FBI  is  authorized  to 
investigate  such  matters  as  constitute  potential  violations  of 
federal  criminal  law,  even  though  administrative  sanctions  may  be 
sought  instead  of  criminal  prosecution. 
4.  Nothing  in  this  directive  is  intended  to  modify  or 
preclude  interagency  agreements  between  FBI  and  other  criminal 
investigative  agencies  regarding  their  responsibility  for 
conducting  investigations  within  their  own  agencies  or  departments. 
5.  The  Office  of  Personnel  Management  and  all  departments 
and  agencies  with  employees  having  access  to  classified  information 
are  directed  to  revise  existing  regulations  -and  policies,  as 
necessary,  so  that  employees  may  be  required  to  submit  to  polygraph 
examinations,  when  appropriate,  in  the  course  of  investigations  of 
unauthorized  disclosures  of  classified  information.   As  a.  minimum, 
such  regulations  shall  permit  an  agency  to  decide  that  appropriate
adverse  consequences  will  follow  an  employee's  refusal  to  cooperate 
with  a  polygraph  examination  that  is  limited  in  scope  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  unauthorized  disclosure  under  investigation. 
Agency  regulations  may  provide  that  only  the  head  of  the  agency, 
or  his  delegate.,  is  empowered  to-order-  an— employ-ee  -to— submit—to— a   
polygraph  examination.   Results  of  polygraph  examinations  should 
not  be  relied  upon  to  the  exclusion  of  other  information  obtained 
during  investigations. 
6.    The  Attorney  General,  in  consultation  with  the  Director, 
Office  of  Personnel  Management,  is  requested  to  establish  an 
interdepartmental  group  to  study  the  federal  personnel .  security    , 
program  and  recommend  appropriate  revisions  in  existing  Executive 
orders,  regulations,  and  guidelines.
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Agencies  will  be  required  to  adopt 
policies  concerning  contacts  between 
journalists  and  persons  with  access  to 
classified  information,  so  as  to  reduce 
opportunities  for  unlawful  disclosures. 
However,  no  particular  policies  are 
mandated  in  the  directive. 
—  Agencies  will  be  required  to  adopt  new 
procedures  so  that  unlawful  disclosures  of 
classified  information  will  be  reported 
and  analyzed  more  efficiently. 
The  directive  establishes  a  new  approach  to  investigating 
unlawful  disclosures  to  replace  the  past  practice  of  treating 
such  matters  as  purely  criminal  investigations. 
—  Although  unauthorized  disclosures  of 
classified  information  potentially  violate 
a  number  of  criminal  statutes,  there  has 
never  been  a  successful  prosecution. 
There  are  a  number  of  practical  barriers 
to  successful  criminal  prosecution  in 
most  of  these  cases. 
This  directive  clarifies  FBI's  authority  to 
investigate  unlawful  disclosures  of 
classified  information,  even  though  it  is 
anticipated  that  a  successful  investigation 
will  lead  to  administrative  sanctions  (such 
as  demotion  or  dismissal)  rather  than 
criminal  prosecution. 
—  All  agencies  with  employees  having  access  to 
classified  information  will  be  required  to 
assure  that  their  policies  permit 
use  of  polygraph  examinations  under 
carefully  defined  circumstances.   The 
polygraph  is  already  used  on  a  regular 
basis  by  our  largest  intelligence 
agencies.   The  directive  provides  for  a 
greater  degree  of  consistency  in 
government-wide  policy  regarding  use  of  this 
investigative  technique. 
The  use  of  the  polygraph  in  any  particular 
case  will  be  subject  to  the  discretion  of  an 
employee ' s  agency  head . 
—  There  will  be  no  change  in  the  current 
practice  of  targeting  investigations  at 
employees  who  are  suspected  of  unlawfully 
disclosing  classified  information,  rather 
than  at  journalists  who  publish  it.
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—   The  directive  provides  that  employees  found 
by  their  agency  head  to  have  knowingly 
disclosed  classified  information  without 
authorization  or  to  have  refused 
cooperation  with  investigations  will  be 
subject  to  mandatory  administrative 
sanctions  to  include,  as  a  minimum,  denial 
of  further  access  to  classified 
information.   Existing  procedural  safeguards 
for  personnel  actions  involving  federal 
employees  remain  unchanged. 
Expected  Results 
This  directive  is  not  expected  to  eliminate  all  unlawful 
disclosures  of  classified  information. 
The  directive  is  designed  to  improve  the  effectiveness  of  our 
present  program  and,  over  time,  to  reduce  the  frequency  and 
seriousness  of  unlawful  disclosures  of  classified  informa- 
tion. 
The  directive  also  emphasizes  that  government  employees  who 
are  entrusted  with  classified  information  have  a  fiduciary 
duty  to  safeguard  that  information  from  unauthorized  dis- 
closure.