Joint Staff Information Management Division ( United States ) The Joint Staff Information Management Division ( IMD ) is one of two divisions which make up the Joint Staff Secretariat ( SJS ) of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff currently located in the Pentagon in Arlington , Virginia ( USA ) . The other division is called Actions Division ( AD ) which manages the daily workflow of the staff . Mission : To support the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by providing information management services that include Joint Staff and Combatant Command records management policy and oversight ; forms , directives , and NATO document management ; staff action research , archiving , and content management ; mandatory and automatic declassification and security reviews ; and Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request processing . Information Management Division has approximately thirty personnel divided into two branches : the Records , Research and Content Branch ( RRCB ) , and the Declassification Branch ( DB ) . The division chief position is held by a Department of Defense civil servant of GS - 15 pay grade . The division also has a military officer as a deputy with the rank of O - 5 , but all other personnel are civilians , a mix of federal and contract workers . The SJS falls within the Joint Staff ' s Directorate of Management ( DOM ) headed by an officer of 2 - star flag rank . Records , Research and Content Branch . This branch maintains the corporate archive of record of the top five general officers of the Joint Staff : The Chairman ( CJCS ) , the Assistant to the Chairman , the Vice Chairman ( VCJCS ) , the Director ( DJS ) , and Vice Director ( VDJS ) . They are referred to collectively as the " Top Five . " The VDJS is dual hatted as the Director of Management of the Joint Staff . The records maintained within this archive are available for Action Officers ( AOs ) on the Joint Staff to conduct research as a part of processing current business actions on the staff . They are also available for the Joint Staff History Office to prepare official historical accounts of the actions of the Joint Staff . An electronic searchable archive of these actions is maintained within internal staff electronic servers for AO convenience , although the actual record copy of all actions is maintained as a paper file . Additionally , this branch is charged by the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer with records management oversight responsibility for the offices of the Top Five , all the staff ' s directorates , and , on behalf of the CJCS , with oversight of the Records Management Program ( RMP ) of all combatant commands . These commands include : US Central Command ( USCENTCOM ) , US Southern Command ( USSOUTHCOM ) , US Special Operations Command ( USSOCCOM ) , US Joint Forces Command ( USJFCOM ) , US Transportation Command ( USTRANSCOM ) , US Strategic Command ( USSTRATCOM ) , United States Pacific Command ( USPACOM ) , US European Command ( USEUCOM ) , and the new US Africa Command ( USAFRICOM ) which achieved full fledged Unified Combatant Command status in October 2008 . Official records of the Joint Staff and combatant commands are managed in accordance with internally developed policy and procedures using a disposition schedule which has been approved by the Archivist of the United States — which makes it law , in effect . Records are managed by the Joint Staff or originating combatant command ' s records officer throughout their lifecycle until the disposition schedule calls for them to be accessioned to the National Archives and Records Administration ( NARA ) , at which time NARA assumes physical and legal custody of those records which have been deemed permanent . Also , the Records , Research and Content Branch is responsible for Enterprise Content Management policy for the Joint Staff . Finally , the RRC Branch maintains the system of directives for the Joint Staff . It also maintains an official repository of NATO documents for staff reference . Declassification Branch . This branch processes Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) requests and conducts declassification review of Joint Staff records as part of the Automatic Declassification requirements mandated by Executive Order 12958 as amended . The branch conducts Mandatory Declassification Reviews ( MDRs ) when required outside of FOIA , as well as Security Reviews of scholarly works with potential Joint Staff classified equities written by DOD members for publication or for educational purposes . Members of the public who wish access to Joint Staff records must make their requests via the DOD ' s Freedom of Information Office . This group of government and contract civilians works to insure the public has access to Joint Staff unclassified information as an informed ( and supportive ) polity is critical for successful democratic government . The Declassification Branch is also bound to protect classified information to protect the security interests of the country and its citizens both at home and abroad , whether they be civilian or military .