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Executive Order 12356 (47 FR 14874)
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On April 2, 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order
12356 (47 FR 14874). It established a more restrictive standard
for the classification of documents under the National Security
Exemption to the FOIA than had existed in the Carter administration.
Under Reagan's order the balance between government secrecy and
the public's right to access information favored secrecy. Executive
agencies were instructed to classify any information that "reasonably
could be expected to cause damage to the national security" Contrast
the language of this executive order with the language of President
Clinton's E.O. 12958 .
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Executive Order 12356 (47 FR 14874)
Selected sections of the order:
Original Classification
Section 1.1 Classification Levels.
(a) National security information (hereinafter "classified information")
shall
be classified at one of the following three levels:
(1) "Top Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized
disclosure of which
reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage
to thenational security.
(2) "Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized
disclosure of
which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to
the national
security.
(3) "Confidential" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized
disclosure of which
reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national
security.
(c) If there is reasonable doubt about the need to classify information,
it
shall be safeguarded as if it were classified pending a determination
by an
original classification authority, who shall make this determination
within
thirty (30) days. If there is reasonable doubt about the appropriate
level of
classification, it shall be safeguarded at the higher level of
classification
pending a determination by an original classification authority,
who shall
make this determination within thirty (30) days.
Sec. 1.3 Classification Categories.
(a) Information shall be considered for classification if it
concerns:
(1) military plans, weapons, or operations;
(2) the vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations,
projects, or
plans relating to the national security;
(3) foreign government information;
(4) intelligence activities (including special activities), or
intelligence
sources or methods;
(5) foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States;
(6) scientific, technological, or economic matters relating to
the national
security;
(7) United States Government programs for safeguarding nuclear
materials or
facilities;
(8) cryptology;
(9) a confidential source; or
(10) other categories of information that are related to the
national security
and that require protection against unauthorized disclosure as
determined by thePresident or by agency heads or other officials
who have been delegated originalclassification authority by the
President. Any determination made under this subsection shall
be reported promptly to the Director of the Information Security
Oversight Office.
(b) Information that is determined to concern one or more of
the categories in
Section 1.3(a) shall be classified when an original classification
authority
also determines that its unauthorized disclosure, either by itself
or in the
context of other information, reasonably could be expected to
cause damage to
the national security.
(c) Unauthorized disclosure of foreign government information,
the identity of a
confidential foreign source, or intelligence sources or methods
is presumed to
cause damage to the national security.
(d) Information classified in accordance with Section 1.3 shall
not be
declassified automatically as a result of any unofficial publication
or
inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure in the United States or
abroad of
identical or similar information.
Sec. 1.4 Duration of Classification.
(a) Information shall be classified as long as required by national
security
considerations. When it can be determined, a specific date or
event for
declassification shall be set by the original classification
authority at the
time the information is originally classified.
(b) Automatic declassification determinations under predecessor
orders shall
remain valid unless the classification is extended by an authorized
official of
the originating agency. These extensions may be by individual
documents or
categories of information. The agency shall be responsible for
notifying holders of the information of such extensions.
(c) Information classified under predecessor orders and marked
for
declassification review shall remain classified until reviewed
for
declassification under the provisions of this Order.
Sec. 1.6 Limitations on Classification.
(a) In no case shall information be classified in order to conceal
violations
of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; to prevent embarrassment
to a
person, organization, or agency; to restrain competition; or
to prevent or delay
the release of information that does not require protection in
the interest of national security.
(b) Basic scientific research information not clearly related
to the national
security may not be classified.
(c) The President or an agency head or official designated under
Sections
1.2(a)(2), 1.2(b)(1), or 1.2(c)(1) may reclassify information
previously
declassified and disclosed if it is determined in writing that
(1) the
information requires protection in the interest of national security;
and (2)
the information may reasonably be recovered. These reclassification
actions
shall be reported promptly to the Director of the Information
Security Oversight
Office.
(d) Information may be classified or reclassified after an agency
has received a
request for it under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C.
552) or the
Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), or the mandatory review
provisions of
this Order (Section 3.4) if such classification meets the requirements
of this
Order and is accomplished personally and on a document-by-document
basis
by the agency head, the deputy agency head, the senior agency
official designated
under Section 5.3(a)(1), or an official with original Top Secret
classification
authority.
Declassification and Downgrading
Sec. 3.1 Declassification Authority.
(a) Information shall be declassified or downgraded as soon as
national security considerations permit. Agencies shall coordinate
their review of classifiedinformation with other agencies that
have a direct interest in the subjectmatter. Information that
continues to meet the classification requirementsprescribed by
Section 1.3 despite the passage of time will continue to be protected
in accordance with this Order.
(b) Information shall be declassified or downgraded by the official
who
authorized the original classification, if that official is still
serving in the
same position; the originator's successor; a supervisory official
of either; or
officials delegated such authority in writing by the agency head
or the senior
agency official designated pursuant to Section 5.3(a)(1).
(c) If the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office
determines that
information is classified in violation of this Order, the Director
may require
the information to be declassified by the agency that originated
the
classification. Any such decision by the Director may be appealed
to the
National Security Council. The information shall remain classified,
pending
a prompt decision on the appeal.
(d) The provisions of this Section shall also apply to agencies
that, under the
terms of this Order, do not have original classification authority,
but that had
such authority under predecessor orders.
Sec. 3.3 Systematic Review for Declassification.
(a) The Archivist of the United States shall, in accordance with
procedures and timeframes prescribed in the Information Security
Oversight Office's directives implementing this Order, systematically
review for declassification or downgrading (1) classified records
accessioned into the National Archives of the United States,
and (2) classified presidential papers or records under the
Archivist's control. Such information shall be reviewed by the
Archivist for
declassification or downgrading in accordance with systematic
review guidelines that shall be provided by the head of the agency
that originated the
information, or in the case of foreign government information,
by the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office
in consultation with interested agency heads.
(b) Agency heads may conduct internal systematic review programs
for classified information originated by their agencies contained
in records determined by the Archivist to be permanently valuable
but that have not been accessioned into the National Archives
of the United States.
(c) After consultation with affected agencies, the Secretary
of Defense may
establish special procedures for systematic review for declassification
of
classified cryptologic information, and the Director of Central
Intelligence may
establish special procedures for systematic review for declassification
of
classified information pertaining to intelligence activities
(including special
activities), or intelligence sources or methods.
Sec. 3.4. Mandatory Review for Declassification.
(a) Except as provided in Section 3.4(b), all information classified
under this
Order or predecessor orders shall be subject to a review for
declassification by
the originating agency, if:
(1) the request is made by a United States citizen or permanent
resident alien,
a federal agency, or a State or local government; and
(2) the request describes the document or material containing
the information
with sufficient specificity to enable the agency to locate it
with a reasonable
amount of effort.
(b) Information originated by a President, the White House Staff,
by committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the President,
or others specifically providing advice and counsel to a President
or acting on behalf of a President is exempted from the provisions
of Section 3.4(a). The Archivist of the United States shall have
the authority to review, downgrade and declassify information
under the control of the Administrator of General Services or
the Archivist pursuant to sections 2107, 2107 note, or 2203 of
title 44, United States Code. Review procedures developed by
the Archivist shall provide for consultation with agencies having
primary subject matter interest and shall be consistent with
the provisions of applicable laws or lawful agreements that pertain
to the respective presidential papers or records. Any decision
by the Archivist may be appealed to the Director of the Information
Security Oversight Office....
(c) Agencies conducting a mandatory review for declassification
shall declassify information no longer requiring protection under
this Order. They shall release this information unless withholding
is otherwise authorized under applicable law.
(d) Agency heads shall develop procedures to process requests
for the mandatory
review of classified information. These procedures shall apply
to information
classified under this or predecessor orders. They shall also
provide a means for
administratively appealing a denial of a mandatory review request.
(e) The Secretary of Defense shall develop special procedures
for the review of
cryptologic information, and the Director of Central Intelligence
shall develop
special procedures for the review of information pertaining to
intelligence
activities (including special activities), or intelligence sources
or methods,
after consultation with affected agencies. The Archivist shall
develop special
procedures for the review of information accessioned into the
National Archives
of the United States.
(f) In response to a request for information under the Freedom
of Information
Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, or the mandatory review provisions
of this Order:
(1) An agency shall refuse to confirm or deny the existence or
non-existence of
requested information whenever the fact of its existence or non-existence
is
itself classifiable under this Order.
(2) When an agency receives any request for documents in its
custody that were
classified by another agency, it shall refer copies of the request
and the
requested documents to the originating agency for processing,
and may, after
consultation with the originating agency, inform the requester
of the referral.
In cases in which the originating agency determines in writing
that a response
under Section 3.4(f)(1) is required, the referring agency shall
respond to the
requester in accordance with that Section.
(e) This Order shall become effective on August 1, 1982.
/S/Ronald Reagan
THE WHITE HOUSE
April 2, 1982.
