| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 5977 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To improve the classification and declassification of national security |
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| 6 | 6 | | information, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | OCTOBER17, 2023 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. W |
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| 10 | 10 | | ENSTRUP(for himself and Ms. SPANBERGER) introduced the following |
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| 11 | 11 | | bill |
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| 12 | 12 | | O |
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| 13 | 13 | | CTOBER25, 2023 |
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| 14 | 14 | | Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition |
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| 15 | 15 | | to the Committees on Intelligence (Permanent Select), and Energy and |
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| 16 | 16 | | Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, |
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| 17 | 17 | | in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- |
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| 18 | 18 | | diction of the committee concerned |
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| 19 | 19 | | A BILL |
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| 20 | 20 | | To improve the classification and declassification of national |
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| 21 | 21 | | security information, and for other purposes. |
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| 22 | 22 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 23 | 23 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) S |
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| 26 | 26 | | HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ‘‘Sensible Classification Act of 2023’’. 5 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (b) T |
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| 29 | 29 | | ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 |
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| 30 | 30 | | this Act is as follows: 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. |
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| 35 | 35 | | Sec. 2. Findings and sense of Congress. |
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| 36 | 36 | | Sec. 3. Classification authority. |
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| 37 | 37 | | Sec. 4. Promoting efficient declassification review. |
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| 38 | 38 | | Sec. 5. Training to promote sensible classification. |
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| 39 | 39 | | Sec. 6. Improvements to Public Interest Declassification Board. |
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| 40 | 40 | | Sec. 7. Implementation of technology for classification and declassification. |
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| 41 | 41 | | Sec. 8. Studies and recommendations on necessity of security clearances. |
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| 42 | 42 | | Sec. 9. Definitions. |
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| 43 | 43 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. |
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| 44 | 44 | | 1 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (a) F |
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| 46 | 46 | | INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (1) According to a report released by the Office 3 |
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| 48 | 48 | | of the Director of Intelligence in 2020 titled ‘‘Fiscal 4 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Year 2019 Annual Report on Security Clearance De-5 |
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| 50 | 50 | | terminations’’, more than 4,000,000 individuals have 6 |
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| 51 | 51 | | been granted eligibility for a security clearance. 7 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (2) At least 1,300,000 of such individuals have 8 |
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| 53 | 53 | | been granted access to information classified at the 9 |
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| 54 | 54 | | Top Secret level. 10 |
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| 55 | 55 | | (b) S |
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| 56 | 56 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-11 |
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| 57 | 57 | | gress that— 12 |
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| 58 | 58 | | (1) the classification system of the Federal Gov-13 |
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| 59 | 59 | | ernment is in urgent need of reform; 14 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (2) the number of people with access to classi-15 |
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| 61 | 61 | | fied information is exceedingly high and must be jus-16 |
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| 62 | 62 | | tified or reduced; 17 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (3) reforms are necessary to reestablish trust 18 |
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| 64 | 64 | | between the Federal Government and the people of 19 |
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| 65 | 65 | | the United States; and 20 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (4) classification should be limited to the min-1 |
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| 70 | 70 | | imum necessary to protect national security while 2 |
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| 71 | 71 | | balancing the public’s interest in disclosure. 3 |
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| 72 | 72 | | SEC. 3. CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY. 4 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (a) I |
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| 74 | 74 | | NGENERAL.—The authority to classify informa-5 |
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| 75 | 75 | | tion originally may be exercised only by— 6 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (1) the President and, in the discharge of exec-7 |
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| 77 | 77 | | utive duties and responsibilities, the Vice President; 8 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (2) the head or any other official of any agency 9 |
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| 79 | 79 | | authorized by the President pursuant to a designa-10 |
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| 80 | 80 | | tion of such authority in the Federal Register; and 11 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (3) an official of the Federal Government to 12 |
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| 82 | 82 | | whom authority to classify information originally has 13 |
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| 83 | 83 | | been delegated pursuant to subsection (c). 14 |
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| 84 | 84 | | (b) S |
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| 85 | 85 | | COPE OFAUTHORITY.—An individual author-15 |
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| 86 | 86 | | ized under this section to classify information originally 16 |
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| 87 | 87 | | at a specified level may also classify information originally 17 |
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| 88 | 88 | | at a lower level. 18 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (c) D |
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| 90 | 90 | | ELEGATION OFORIGINALCLASSIFICATIONAU-19 |
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| 91 | 91 | | THORITY.—An official of the Federal Government may be 20 |
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| 92 | 92 | | delegated original classification authority subject to the 21 |
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| 93 | 93 | | following: 22 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (1) Delegation of original classification author-23 |
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| 95 | 95 | | ity shall be limited to the minimum required to ad-24 |
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| 96 | 96 | | minister this section. Agency heads shall be respon-25 |
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| 100 | 100 | | sible for ensuring that designated subordinate offi-1 |
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| 101 | 101 | | cials have a demonstrable and continuing need to ex-2 |
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| 102 | 102 | | ercise such authority. 3 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (2) Authority to originally classify information 4 |
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| 104 | 104 | | at the level designated as ‘‘Top Secret’’ may be dele-5 |
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| 105 | 105 | | gated only by the President, in the performance of 6 |
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| 106 | 106 | | executive duties, the Vice President, or an agency 7 |
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| 107 | 107 | | head or official designated pursuant to subsection 8 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (a)(2). 9 |
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| 109 | 109 | | (3) Authority to originally classify information 10 |
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| 110 | 110 | | at the level designated as ‘‘Secret’’ or ‘‘Confidential’’ 11 |
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| 111 | 111 | | may be delegated only by the President, in the dis-12 |
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| 112 | 112 | | charge of executive duties and responsibilities, the 13 |
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| 113 | 113 | | Vice President, or an agency head or official des-14 |
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| 114 | 114 | | ignated pursuant to subsection (a)(2), or the senior 15 |
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| 115 | 115 | | agency official described in section 5.4(d) of Execu-16 |
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| 116 | 116 | | tive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to 17 |
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| 117 | 117 | | classified national security information), or successor 18 |
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| 118 | 118 | | order, provided that official has been delegated ‘‘Top 19 |
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| 119 | 119 | | Secret’’ original classification authority by the agen-20 |
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| 120 | 120 | | cy head. 21 |
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| 121 | 121 | | (4) Each delegation of original classification au-22 |
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| 122 | 122 | | thority shall be in writing and the authority shall 23 |
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| 123 | 123 | | not be redelegated except as provided by paragraph 24 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (1), (2), or (3). Each delegation shall identify the of-1 |
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| 128 | 128 | | ficial by name or position title. 2 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (d) T |
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| 130 | 130 | | RAININGREQUIRED.— 3 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (1) I |
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| 132 | 132 | | N GENERAL.—An individual may not be 4 |
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| 133 | 133 | | delegated original classification authority under this 5 |
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| 134 | 134 | | section unless the individual has first received train-6 |
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| 135 | 135 | | ing described in paragraph (2). 7 |
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| 136 | 136 | | (2) T |
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| 137 | 137 | | RAINING DESCRIBED.—Training described 8 |
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| 138 | 138 | | in this paragraph is training on original classifica-9 |
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| 139 | 139 | | tion that includes instruction on the proper safe-10 |
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| 140 | 140 | | guarding of classified information and of the crimi-11 |
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| 141 | 141 | | nal, civil, and administrative sanctions that may be 12 |
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| 142 | 142 | | brought against an individual who fails to protect 13 |
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| 143 | 143 | | classified information from unauthorized disclosure. 14 |
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| 144 | 144 | | (e) E |
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| 145 | 145 | | XCEPTIONALCASES.— 15 |
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| 146 | 146 | | (1) I |
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| 147 | 147 | | N GENERAL.—When an employee, con-16 |
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| 148 | 148 | | tractor, licensee, certificate holder, or grantee of an 17 |
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| 149 | 149 | | agency who does not have original classification au-18 |
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| 150 | 150 | | thority originates information believed by that em-19 |
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| 151 | 151 | | ployee, contractor, licensee, certificate holder, or 20 |
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| 152 | 152 | | grantee to require classification, the information 21 |
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| 153 | 153 | | shall be protected in a manner consistent with Exec-22 |
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| 154 | 154 | | utive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to 23 |
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| 155 | 155 | | classified national security information), or successor 24 |
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| 156 | 156 | | order. 25 |
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| 160 | 160 | | (2) TRANSMISSION.—An employee, contractor, 1 |
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| 161 | 161 | | licensee, certificate holder, or grantee described in 2 |
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| 162 | 162 | | paragraph (1), who originates information described 3 |
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| 163 | 163 | | in such paragraph, shall promptly transmit such in-4 |
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| 164 | 164 | | formation to— 5 |
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| 165 | 165 | | (A) the head of the agency that has appro-6 |
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| 166 | 166 | | priate subject matter interest and classification 7 |
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| 167 | 167 | | authority with respect to the information; or 8 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (B) if it is not clear which agency has ap-9 |
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| 169 | 169 | | propriate subject matter interest and classifica-10 |
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| 170 | 170 | | tion authority with respect to the information, 11 |
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| 171 | 171 | | to the Director of the Information Security 12 |
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| 172 | 172 | | Oversight Office of the National Archives and 13 |
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| 173 | 173 | | Records Administration. 14 |
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| 174 | 174 | | (3) I |
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| 175 | 175 | | NFORMATION SECURITY OVERSIGHT OF -15 |
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| 176 | 176 | | FICE ACTION.—If the Director of the Information 16 |
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| 177 | 177 | | Security Oversight Office receives information under 17 |
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| 178 | 178 | | paragraph (2)(B), the Director shall determine 18 |
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| 179 | 179 | | which agency has appropriate subject matter interest 19 |
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| 180 | 180 | | and classification authority and submit the informa-20 |
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| 181 | 181 | | tion, with appropriate recommendations, to the head 21 |
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| 182 | 182 | | of that agency for a classification determination. 22 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (4) T |
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| 184 | 184 | | IMING OF DETERMINATIONS .—Not later 23 |
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| 185 | 185 | | than 30 days after the head of agency receives infor-24 |
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| 186 | 186 | | mation pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) or (3), the 25 |
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| 190 | 190 | | head shall make a determination as to whether to 1 |
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| 191 | 191 | | classify the information. 2 |
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| 192 | 192 | | SEC. 4. PROMOTING EFFICIENT DECLASSIFICATION RE-3 |
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| 193 | 193 | | VIEW. 4 |
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| 194 | 194 | | (a) I |
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| 195 | 195 | | NGENERAL.—Whenever the head of an agency 5 |
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| 196 | 196 | | is processing a request pursuant to section 552 of title 6 |
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| 197 | 197 | | 5, United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom 7 |
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| 198 | 198 | | of Information Act’’) or the mandatory declassification re-8 |
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| 199 | 199 | | view provisions of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 9 |
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| 200 | 200 | | note; relating to classified national security information), 10 |
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| 201 | 201 | | or successor order, and identifies responsive classified 11 |
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| 202 | 202 | | records that are more than 25-years-of-age as of Decem-12 |
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| 203 | 203 | | ber 31 of the year in which the request is received, the 13 |
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| 204 | 204 | | head of the agency shall review the record and process 14 |
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| 205 | 205 | | the record for declassification and release by the National 15 |
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| 206 | 206 | | Declassification Center of the National Archives and 16 |
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| 207 | 207 | | Records Administration. 17 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (b) A |
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| 209 | 209 | | PPLICATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply— 18 |
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| 210 | 210 | | (1) regardless of whether or not the record de-19 |
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| 211 | 211 | | scribed in such subsection is in the legal custody of 20 |
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| 212 | 212 | | the National Archives and Records Administration; 21 |
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| 213 | 213 | | and 22 |
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| 214 | 214 | | (2) without regard for any other provisions of 23 |
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| 215 | 215 | | law or existing agreements or practices between 24 |
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| 216 | 216 | | agencies. 25 |
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| 220 | 220 | | SEC. 5. TRAINING TO PROMOTE SENSIBLE CLASSIFICA-1 |
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| 221 | 221 | | TION. 2 |
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| 222 | 222 | | (a) T |
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| 223 | 223 | | RAININGREQUIRED.—Each head of an agency 3 |
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| 224 | 224 | | with classification authority shall conduct training for em-4 |
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| 225 | 225 | | ployees of such agency with classification authority to dis-5 |
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| 226 | 226 | | courage over-classification and to promote sensible classi-6 |
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| 227 | 227 | | fication. 7 |
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| 228 | 228 | | (b) D |
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| 229 | 229 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 |
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| 230 | 230 | | (1) O |
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| 231 | 231 | | VER-CLASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘over- 9 |
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| 232 | 232 | | classification’’ means classification at a level that ex-10 |
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| 233 | 233 | | ceeds the minimum level of classification that is suf-11 |
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| 234 | 234 | | ficient to protect the national security of the United 12 |
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| 235 | 235 | | States. 13 |
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| 236 | 236 | | (2) S |
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| 237 | 237 | | ENSIBLE CLASSIFICATION .—The term 14 |
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| 238 | 238 | | ‘‘sensible classification’’ means classification at a 15 |
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| 239 | 239 | | level that is the minimum level of classification that 16 |
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| 240 | 240 | | is sufficient to protect the national security of the 17 |
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| 241 | 241 | | United States. 18 |
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| 242 | 242 | | SEC. 6. IMPROVEMENTS TO PUBLIC INTEREST DECLAS-19 |
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| 243 | 243 | | SIFICATION BOARD. 20 |
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| 244 | 244 | | Section 703 of the Public Interest Declassification 21 |
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| 245 | 245 | | Act of 2000 (50 U.S.C. 3355a) is amended— 22 |
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| 246 | 246 | | (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 23 |
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| 247 | 247 | | following: 24 |
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| 251 | 251 | | ‘‘(5) A member of the Board whose term has expired 1 |
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| 252 | 252 | | may continue to serve until a successor is appointed and 2 |
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| 253 | 253 | | sworn in.’’; and 3 |
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| 254 | 254 | | (2) in subsection (f)— 4 |
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| 255 | 255 | | (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Any em-5 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ployee’’; and 6 |
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| 257 | 257 | | (B) by adding at the end the following: 7 |
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| 258 | 258 | | ‘‘(2) In addition to any employees detailed to the 8 |
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| 259 | 259 | | Board under paragraph (1), the Board may hire not more 9 |
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| 260 | 260 | | than 12 staff members.’’. 10 |
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| 261 | 261 | | SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR CLASSI-11 |
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| 262 | 262 | | FICATION AND DECLASSIFICATION. 12 |
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| 263 | 263 | | (a) I |
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| 264 | 264 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 13 |
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| 265 | 265 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 14 |
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| 266 | 266 | | the Office of Electronic Government of the Office of Man-15 |
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| 267 | 267 | | agement and Budget (in this section referred to as the 16 |
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| 268 | 268 | | ‘‘Administrator’’), in consultation with the Secretary of 17 |
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| 269 | 269 | | Defense, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 18 |
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| 270 | 270 | | the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the 19 |
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| 271 | 271 | | Information Security Oversight Office, the head of the Na-20 |
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| 272 | 272 | | tional Declassification Center of the National Archives 21 |
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| 273 | 273 | | and Records Administration, and the Public Interest De-22 |
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| 274 | 274 | | classification Board, shall— 23 |
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| 275 | 275 | | (1) research a technology-based solution— 24 |
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| 279 | 279 | | (A) using machine learning and artificial 1 |
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| 280 | 280 | | intelligence to support efficient and effective 2 |
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| 281 | 281 | | systems for classification and declassification; 3 |
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| 282 | 282 | | and 4 |
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| 283 | 283 | | (B) to be implemented on an interoperable 5 |
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| 284 | 284 | | and federated basis across the Federal Govern-6 |
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| 285 | 285 | | ment; and 7 |
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| 286 | 286 | | (2) submit to the President a recommendation 8 |
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| 287 | 287 | | regarding a technology-based solution described in 9 |
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| 288 | 288 | | paragraph (1) that should be adopted by the Federal 10 |
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| 289 | 289 | | Government. 11 |
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| 290 | 290 | | (b) S |
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| 291 | 291 | | TAFF.—The Administrator may hire sufficient 12 |
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| 292 | 292 | | staff to carry out subsection (a). 13 |
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| 293 | 293 | | (c) R |
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| 294 | 294 | | EPORT.— 14 |
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| 295 | 295 | | (1) S |
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| 296 | 296 | | UBMISSION.—Not later than 540 days 15 |
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| 297 | 297 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 16 |
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| 298 | 298 | | President shall submit to Congress a report on the 17 |
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| 299 | 299 | | technology-based solution recommended by the Ad-18 |
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| 300 | 300 | | ministrator under subsection (a)(2) and the deter-19 |
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| 301 | 301 | | mination of the President regarding its adoption. 20 |
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| 302 | 302 | | (2) F |
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| 303 | 303 | | ORM.—The report under paragraph (1) 21 |
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| 304 | 304 | | may be submitted in classified form. 22 |
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| 308 | 308 | | SEC. 8. STUDIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON NECESSITY 1 |
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| 309 | 309 | | OF SECURITY CLEARANCES. 2 |
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| 310 | 310 | | (a) S |
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| 311 | 311 | | TUDIES ONNECESSITY OFSECURITYCLEAR-3 |
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| 312 | 312 | | ANCES.— 4 |
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| 313 | 313 | | (1) S |
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| 314 | 314 | | TUDIES REQUIRED .—The head of each 5 |
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| 315 | 315 | | agency that grants security clearances to personnel 6 |
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| 316 | 316 | | of such agency shall conduct a study on the neces-7 |
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| 317 | 317 | | sity of such security clearances. 8 |
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| 318 | 318 | | (2) R |
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| 319 | 319 | | EPORTS REQUIRED.— 9 |
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| 320 | 320 | | (A) I |
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| 321 | 321 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 10 |
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| 322 | 322 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, 11 |
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| 323 | 323 | | each head of an agency that conducts a study 12 |
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| 324 | 324 | | under paragraph (1) shall submit to Congress 13 |
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| 325 | 325 | | a report on the findings of the head with re-14 |
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| 326 | 326 | | spect to such study, which the head may clas-15 |
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| 327 | 327 | | sify as appropriate. 16 |
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| 328 | 328 | | (B) R |
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| 329 | 329 | | EQUIRED ELEMENTS .—Each report 17 |
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| 330 | 330 | | submitted by the head of an agency under sub-18 |
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| 331 | 331 | | paragraph (A) shall include, for such agency, 19 |
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| 332 | 332 | | the following: 20 |
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| 333 | 333 | | (i) The number of personnel eligible 21 |
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| 334 | 334 | | for access to information up to the Top Se-22 |
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| 335 | 335 | | cret level. 23 |
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| 336 | 336 | | (ii) The number of personnel eligible 24 |
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| 337 | 337 | | for access to information up to the Secret 25 |
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| 338 | 338 | | level. 26 |
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| 342 | 342 | | (iii) Information on the any reduction 1 |
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| 343 | 343 | | in the number of personnel eligible for ac-2 |
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| 344 | 344 | | cess to classified information based on the 3 |
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| 345 | 345 | | study conducted under paragraph (1). 4 |
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| 346 | 346 | | (iv) A description of how the head will 5 |
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| 347 | 347 | | ensure that the number of security clear-6 |
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| 348 | 348 | | ances granted by such agency will be kept 7 |
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| 349 | 349 | | to the minimum required for the conduct 8 |
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| 350 | 350 | | of agency functions, commensurate with 9 |
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| 351 | 351 | | the size, needs, and mission of the agency. 10 |
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| 352 | 352 | | (3) I |
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| 353 | 353 | | NDUSTRY.—This subsection shall apply to 11 |
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| 354 | 354 | | the Secretary of Defense in the capacity of such Sec-12 |
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| 355 | 355 | | retary as the Executive Agent for the National In-13 |
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| 356 | 356 | | dustrial Security Program. The Secretary of Defense 14 |
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| 357 | 357 | | shall treat contractors, licensees, and grantees as 15 |
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| 358 | 358 | | personnel of the Department of Defense for pur-16 |
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| 359 | 359 | | poses of the studies and reports required by this 17 |
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| 360 | 360 | | subsection. 18 |
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| 361 | 361 | | (b) D |
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| 362 | 362 | | IRECTOR OFNATIONALINTELLIGENCEREVIEW 19 |
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| 363 | 363 | | OFSENSITIVECOMPARTMENTED INFORMATION.—The 20 |
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| 364 | 364 | | Director of National Intelligence shall— 21 |
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| 365 | 365 | | (1) review the number of personnel eligible for 22 |
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| 366 | 366 | | access to sensitive compartmented information; and 23 |
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| 370 | 370 | | (2) submit to Congress a report on how the Di-1 |
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| 371 | 371 | | rector will ensure that the number of such personnel 2 |
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| 372 | 372 | | is limited to the minimum required. 3 |
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| 373 | 373 | | (c) A |
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| 374 | 374 | | GENCYREVIEW OFSPECIALACCESSPRO-4 |
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| 375 | 375 | | GRAMS.—Each head of an agency who is authorized to es-5 |
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| 376 | 376 | | tablish a special access program by Executive Order 6 |
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| 377 | 377 | | 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified na-7 |
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| 378 | 378 | | tional security information), or successor order, shall— 8 |
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| 379 | 379 | | (1) review the number of personnel of the agen-9 |
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| 380 | 380 | | cy eligible for access to such special access pro-10 |
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| 381 | 381 | | grams; and 11 |
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| 382 | 382 | | (2) submit to Congress a report on how the 12 |
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| 383 | 383 | | head will ensure that the number of such personnel 13 |
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| 384 | 384 | | is limited to the minimum required. 14 |
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| 385 | 385 | | (d) S |
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| 386 | 386 | | ECRETARY OFENERGYREVIEW OFQ ANDL 15 |
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| 387 | 387 | | C |
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| 388 | 388 | | LEARANCES.—The Secretary of Energy shall— 16 |
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| 389 | 389 | | (1) review the number of personnel of the De-17 |
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| 390 | 390 | | partment of Energy granted Q and L access; and 18 |
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| 391 | 391 | | (2) submit to Congress a report on how the 19 |
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| 392 | 392 | | Secretary will ensure that the number of such per-20 |
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| 393 | 393 | | sonnel is limited to the minimum required. 21 |
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| 394 | 394 | | (e) I |
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| 395 | 395 | | NDEPENDENT REVIEWS.—Not later than 180 22 |
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| 396 | 396 | | days after the date on which a study is completed under 23 |
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| 397 | 397 | | subsection (a) or a review is completed under subsections 24 |
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| 398 | 398 | | (b) through (d), the Director of the Information Security 25 |
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| 402 | 402 | | Oversight Office of the National Archives and Records Ad-1 |
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| 403 | 403 | | ministration, the Director of National Intelligence, and the 2 |
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| 404 | 404 | | Public Interest Declassification Board shall each review 3 |
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| 405 | 405 | | the study or review, as the case may be. 4 |
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| 406 | 406 | | SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 5 |
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| 407 | 407 | | In this Act: 6 |
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| 408 | 408 | | (1) A |
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| 409 | 409 | | GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 7 |
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| 410 | 410 | | meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec-8 |
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| 411 | 411 | | tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 9 |
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| 412 | 412 | | (2) C |
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| 413 | 413 | | LASSIFIED INFORMATION .—The term 10 |
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| 414 | 414 | | ‘‘classified information’’ means information that has 11 |
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| 415 | 415 | | been determined pursuant to Executive order 12958 12 |
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| 416 | 416 | | (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national 13 |
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| 417 | 417 | | security information), or successor order, to require 14 |
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| 418 | 418 | | protection against unauthorized disclosure and is 15 |
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| 419 | 419 | | marked to indicate its classified status when in doc-16 |
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| 420 | 420 | | umentary form. 17 |
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| 421 | 421 | | (3) C |
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| 422 | 422 | | LASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘classifica-18 |
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| 423 | 423 | | tion’’ means the act or process by which information 19 |
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| 424 | 424 | | is determined to be classified information. 20 |
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| 425 | 425 | | (4) D |
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| 426 | 426 | | ECLASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘declas-21 |
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| 427 | 427 | | sification’’ means the authorized change in the sta-22 |
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| 428 | 428 | | tus of information from classified information to un-23 |
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| 429 | 429 | | classified information. 24 |
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| 433 | 433 | | (5) DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘document’’ means 1 |
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| 434 | 434 | | any recorded information, regardless of the nature of 2 |
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| 435 | 435 | | the medium or the method or circumstances of re-3 |
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| 436 | 436 | | cording. 4 |
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| 437 | 437 | | (6) D |
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| 438 | 438 | | OWNGRADE.—The term ‘‘downgrade’’ 5 |
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| 439 | 439 | | means a determination by a declassification author-6 |
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| 440 | 440 | | ity that information classified and safeguarded at a 7 |
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| 441 | 441 | | specified level shall be classified and safeguarded at 8 |
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| 442 | 442 | | a lower level. 9 |
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| 443 | 443 | | (7) I |
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| 444 | 444 | | NFORMATION.—The term ‘‘information’’ 10 |
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| 445 | 445 | | means any knowledge that can be communicated or 11 |
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| 446 | 446 | | documentary material, regardless of its physical 12 |
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| 447 | 447 | | form or characteristics, that is owned by, is pro-13 |
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| 448 | 448 | | duced by or for, or is under the control of the 14 |
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| 449 | 449 | | United States Government. 15 |
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| 450 | 450 | | (8) O |
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| 451 | 451 | | RIGINATE, ORIGINATING, AND ORIGI-16 |
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| 452 | 452 | | NATED.—The term ‘‘originate’’, ‘‘originating’’, and 17 |
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| 453 | 453 | | ‘‘originated’’, with respect to classified information 18 |
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| 454 | 454 | | and an authority, means the authority that classified 19 |
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| 455 | 455 | | the information in the first instance. 20 |
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| 456 | 456 | | (9) R |
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| 457 | 457 | | ECORDS.—The term ‘‘records’’ means the 21 |
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| 458 | 458 | | records of an agency and Presidential papers or 22 |
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| 459 | 459 | | Presidential records, as those terms are defined in 23 |
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| 460 | 460 | | title 44, United States Code, including those created 24 |
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| 461 | 461 | | or maintained by a government contractor, licensee, 25 |
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| 464 | 464 | | •HR 5977 IH |
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| 465 | 465 | | certificate holder, or grantee that are subject to the 1 |
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| 466 | 466 | | sponsoring agency’s control under the terms of the 2 |
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| 467 | 467 | | contract, license, certificate, or grant. 3 |
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| 468 | 468 | | (10) S |
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| 469 | 469 | | ECURITY CLEARANCE .—The term ‘‘secu-4 |
|---|
| 470 | 470 | | rity clearance’’ means an authorization to access 5 |
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| 471 | 471 | | classified information. 6 |
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| 472 | 472 | | (11) U |
|---|
| 473 | 473 | | NAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE .—The term 7 |
|---|
| 474 | 474 | | ‘‘unauthorized disclosure’’ means a communication 8 |
|---|
| 475 | 475 | | or physical transfer of classified information to an 9 |
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| 476 | 476 | | unauthorized recipient. 10 |
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| 477 | 477 | | (12) U |
|---|
| 478 | 478 | | NCLASSIFIED INFORMATION .—The term 11 |
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| 479 | 479 | | ‘‘unclassified information’’ means information that is 12 |
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| 480 | 480 | | not classified information. 13 |
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| 481 | 481 | | Æ |
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