Evening star., 1951-09-26
Text of Order on Security

Nation and are not to be used,
under any circumstances, for any
other purpose. 1t is my hope that
the practical effect of these reg
u.ations will be to make more,
rather than less, information
about the Government available
to the people. This should result
from the segregation of security
information from non-security
information.
To put the matter bluntly,
these regulations are designed to
keep security information away
from potential enemies and must
not be used to withhold non-Se-H
curity information or to cover up
mistakes made by any official or
employee of the Government. In
order to prevent any misunder-
standing about this, these regula-
tions prohibit the use of security
ciasSif1cationS Oh non-Security in
formation even when the disclos-
ure of such non-security informa-
ton is forbidden by law las in
the case of census and income
tax infcrmatlon) This policy is
spelled out in Paragraph of Part
l of the order.
Your attention is directed Spe-
cifically to the fact that paragraph
26 CD of Part w requires that
security information shall be as
signed the lowest security claSSi-
fication consistent with its proper
protection" and that Paragraph
90 (c) of Part w directs that ut
shall be the responsibility and OBJ
legation of every Government Of
ficial to keep classified security
information in his custody con-
stantly under review. and to in
'itiate action toward downgrading
or declassifiication as soon as con-
Iditions warrant" Strict adherence
to these provisions is absolutely
essential for, otherwise, over
classification or failure to down.
grade or declassify in timely
fashion will defeat the very pur-
pose of these regulations.
Continuing Review.
In order to further the above
objective of protecting that in
formation upon which the security
of the Nation depends, of limiting
classification to purely security
matters, of using the lowest ap-
propriate classification, and of
downgrading or declassifiying in
formation as rapidly as conditions
permit, I have directed the Ma
tional Security Council through
its Interdepartmental Committee
on Internal Security to furnish
advice and assistance to the de-
partments and agencies in con-
.neetion with these regulations and
to maintain a continuing review
of the classification activities in
every department or agency to in
sure uniform and proper applica-
ton of these regulations. including
declassificaiton whenever possible.
I wish to urge upon every de-
partment and agency head con-
scientious adherence to the spirit
and letter of these regulations in
the interest of safeguarding the
national security on the one hand,
and the protection of the public's
right to information on the other
hand. In the latter connection, I
expect each department head or
his designated subordinate to in
Ivestigate promptly and carefully
any alleged instance of unjustified
use of security classifications. In
considering such instances and in
deed in original determinations
Ion classification, it should be
borne in mind that improper ap-
plication of the classification
powers is repulsive to our demo-
cratic form of Government snd
burdens Government procedures
with unnecessary and expensive
restrictions.
HARRY S. TRUMAN.