HR 6193 RFS 
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 ‘‘Improving Public Ac-
cess to Documents Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The proliferation and widespread use of 
‘‘sensitive but unclassified’’ (SBU) control markings 
by the Federal Government interferes with accurate, 
actionable, and timely homeland security information 
sharing, increases the cost of information security, 
and needlessly limits public access to information. 
(2) The control markings 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 security information to the Depart-
ment’s State, local, tribal, and territorial homeland 
security and law enforcement partners, private sec-
tor customers, and the public. 
(3) Overuse of ‘‘sensitive but unclassified’’ 
markings stands in the way of a safer and more se-
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HR 6193 RFS 
cure homeland. This trend is antithetical to the cre-
ation and operation of the information sharing envi-
ronment established under section 1016 of the Intel-
ligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 
2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), and must be halted and re-
versed. 
(4) 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 ex-
empt 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’’). 
(5) The Department should also develop and 
administer policies, procedures, and programs that 
promote compliance with applicable laws, executive 
orders, and other authorities pertaining to the prop-
er use of controlled unclassified information mark-
ings and the National Archives and Records Admin-
istration policies implementing them. 
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HR 6193 RFS 
SEC. 
3. 
CONTROLLED 
UNCLASSIFIED 
INFORMATION 
FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION 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. CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION 
FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 
administer policies, procedures, and programs within the 
Department to implement the controlled unclassified infor-
mation framework to standardize the use of controlled un-
classified markings on, and to maximize the disclosure to 
the public of, homeland security information, terrorism in-
formation, weapons of mass destruction information, and 
other information within the scope of the information 
sharing environment established 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 Sec-
retary shall coordinate with the Archivist of the United 
States and consult with representatives of State, local, 
tribal, and territorial government and law enforcement, or-
ganizations with expertise in civil rights, civil liberties, and 
government oversight, and the private sector, as appro-
priate, to develop such policies, procedures, and programs. 
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‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of the Improving Public Access 
to Documents Act of 2008, the Secretary, in administering 
the policies, procedures, and programs required under sub-
section (a), shall— 
‘‘(1) create, in consultation with the Archivist 
of the United States, a standard format for unclassi-
fied finished intelligence products created by the De-
partment that have been designated as controlled 
unclassified information, consistent with any govern-
ment-wide standards, practices or procedures for 
similar products; 
‘‘(2) require that all unclassified finished intel-
ligence products created by the Department that 
have been designated as controlled unclassified infor-
mation be prepared in the standard format; 
‘‘(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 Ter-
rorism Prevention Act of 2004 (6 U.S.C. 485), as 
appropriate; 
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‘‘(4) establish an ongoing auditing mechanism 
administered by the Inspector General of the De-
partment or other appropriate senior Department of-
ficial that randomly selects, on a periodic basis, con-
trolled unclassified information from each compo-
nent of the Department, including all Department 
components that generate unclassified finished intel-
ligence products, to— 
‘‘(A) assess whether applicable controlled 
unclassified information policies, procedures, 
rules, and regulations have been followed; 
‘‘(B) describe any problems with the ad-
ministration of the applicable controlled unclas-
sified information policies, procedures, rules 
and regulations, including specific non-compli-
ance issues; 
‘‘(C) recommend improvements in aware-
ness and training to address any problems iden-
tified in subparagraph (B); and 
‘‘(D) report at least annually to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Home-
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate, and the public on the findings of the 
Inspector General’s audits under this section; 
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