Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Over-Classi-
fication Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) A key conclusion in the Final Report of the 
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the 
United States (commonly known as the ‘‘9/11 Com-
mission’’) was the need to prevent over-classification 
by the Federal Government. 
(2) The 9/11 Commission and others have ob-
served that the over-classification of homeland secu-
rity information interferes with accurate, actionable, 
and timely homeland security information sharing, 
increases the cost of information security, and need-
lessly limits public access to information. 
(3) The over-classification problem, which has 
worsened since the 9/11 attacks, causes considerable 
confusion about what information can be shared with 
whom both internally at the Department of Homeland 
Security and with its external partners. This problem 
negatively impacts the dissemination of homeland se-
curity information to the Department’s State, local, 
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tribal, and territorial homeland security and law en-
forcement partners, private sector customers, and the 
public. 
(4) Excessive government secrecy stands in the 
way of a safer and more secure homeland. This trend 
is antithetical to the creation and operation of the in-
formation sharing environment established under sec-
tion 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 
Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), and must be 
halted and reversed. 
(5) To do so, the Department should start with 
the understanding that all departmental information 
that is not properly classified, or marked as con-
trolled unclassified information and otherwise exempt 
from disclosure, should be made available to members 
of the public pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United 
States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of 
Information Act’’). 
(6) The Department should also develop and ad-
minister policies, procedures, and programs that pro-
mote compliance with applicable laws, executive or-
ders, and other authorities pertaining to the proper 
use of classification markings and the United States 
National Archives and Records Administration poli-
cies implementing them. 
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SEC. 3. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION WITHIN THE 
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 
Subtitle A of title II of the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 210F. OVER-CLASSIFICATION PREVENTION PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 
administer policies, procedures, and programs within the 
Department to prevent the over-classification of homeland 
security information, terrorism information, weapons of 
mass destruction information, and other information with-
in the scope of the information sharing environment estab-
lished under section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and 
Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485) that must 
be disseminated to prevent and to collectively respond to 
acts of terrorism. The Secretary shall coordinate with the 
Archivist of the United States and consult with representa-
tives of State, local, tribal, and territorial government and 
law enforcement, organizations with expertise in civil 
rights, civil liberties, and government oversight, and the 
private sector, as appropriate, to develop such policies, pro-
cedures, and programs. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of the Reducing Over-Classifica-
tion Act of 2008, the Secretary, in administering the poli-
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cies, procedures, and programs required under subsection 
(a), shall— 
‘‘(1) create, in consultation with the Archivist of 
the United States, standard classified and unclassi-
fied formats for finished intelligence products created 
by the Department, consistent with any government- 
wide standards, practices or procedures for similar 
products; 
‘‘(2) require that all finished intelligence prod-
ucts created by the Department be simultaneously 
prepared in the standard unclassified format, pro-
vided that such an unclassified product would reason-
ably be expected to be of any benefit to a State, local, 
tribal or territorial government, law enforcement 
agency or other emergency response provider, or the 
private sector, based on input provided by the Inter-
agency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group 
Detail established under section 210D; 
‘‘(3) ensure that such policies, procedures, and 
programs protect the national security as well as the 
information privacy rights and legal rights of United 
States persons pursuant to all applicable law and 
policy, including the privacy guidelines for the infor-
mation sharing environment established pursuant to 
section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 
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Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), as appro-
priate; 
‘‘(4) establish an ongoing auditing mechanism 
administered by the Inspector General of the Depart-
ment or other appropriate senior Department official 
that randomly selects, on a periodic basis, classified 
information from each component of the Department 
that generates finished intelligence products to— 
‘‘(A) assess, on an individualized basis, 
whether applicable classification policies, proce-
dures, rules, and regulations have been followed; 
‘‘(B) describe any problems with the admin-
istration of the applicable classification policies, 
procedures, rules, and regulations, including spe-
cific non-compliance issues; 
‘‘(C) recommend improvements in aware-
ness and training to address them; and 
‘‘(D) report at least annually to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, 
and the public, in an appropriate format, on the 
findings of the Inspector General’s audits under 
this section; 
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