Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1518 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 1518
55 To improve the classification and declassification of national security
66 information, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 MAY10, 2023
99 Mr. C
1010 ORNYN(for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. MORAN, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. COL-
1111 LINS, Mr. KING, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. CASEY, and Mr.
1212 L
1313 ANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
1414 ferred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
1515 A BILL
1616 To improve the classification and declassification of national
1717 security information, and for other purposes.
1818 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1919 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2020 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
2121 (a) S
2222 HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
2323 ‘‘Sensible Classification Act of 2023’’. 5
2424 (b) T
2525 ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
2626 this Act is as follows: 7
2727 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
2828 Sec. 2. Definitions.
2929 Sec. 3. Findings and sense of the Senate.
3030 Sec. 4. Classification authority.
3131 Sec. 5. Promoting efficient declassification review.
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3535 Sec. 6. Training to promote sensible classification.
3636 Sec. 7. Improvements to Public Interest Declassification Board.
3737 Sec. 8. Implementation of technology for classification and declassification.
3838 Sec. 9. Studies and recommendations on necessity of security clearances.
3939 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
4040 1
4141 In this Act: 2
4242 (1) A
4343 GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 3
4444 meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec-4
4545 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 5
4646 (2) C
4747 LASSIFIED INFORMATION .—The term 6
4848 ‘‘classified information’’ means information that has 7
4949 been determined pursuant to Executive order 12958 8
5050 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national 9
5151 security information), or successor order, to require 10
5252 protection against unauthorized disclosure and is 11
5353 marked to indicate its classified status when in doc-12
5454 umentary form. 13
5555 (3) C
5656 LASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘classifica-14
5757 tion’’ means the act or process by which information 15
5858 is determined to be classified information. 16
5959 (4) D
6060 ECLASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘declas-17
6161 sification’’ means the authorized change in the sta-18
6262 tus of information from classified information to un-19
6363 classified information. 20
6464 (5) D
6565 OCUMENT.—The term ‘‘document’’ means 21
6666 any recorded information, regardless of the nature of 22
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7070 the medium or the method or circumstances of re-1
7171 cording. 2
7272 (6) D
7373 OWNGRADE.—The term ‘‘downgrade’’ 3
7474 means a determination by a declassification author-4
7575 ity that information classified and safeguarded at a 5
7676 specified level shall be classified and safeguarded at 6
7777 a lower level. 7
7878 (7) I
7979 NFORMATION.—The term ‘‘information’’ 8
8080 means any knowledge that can be communicated or 9
8181 documentary material, regardless of its physical 10
8282 form or characteristics, that is owned by, is pro-11
8383 duced by or for, or is under the control of the 12
8484 United States Government. 13
8585 (8) O
8686 RIGINATE, ORIGINATING, AND ORIGI-14
8787 NATED.—The term ‘‘originate’’, ‘‘originating’’, and 15
8888 ‘‘originated’’, with respect to classified information 16
8989 and an authority, means the authority that classified 17
9090 the information in the first instance. 18
9191 (9) R
9292 ECORDS.—The term ‘‘records’’ means the 19
9393 records of an agency and Presidential papers or 20
9494 Presidential records, as those terms are defined in 21
9595 title 44, United States Code, including those created 22
9696 or maintained by a government contractor, licensee, 23
9797 certificate holder, or grantee that are subject to the 24
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101101 sponsoring agency’s control under the terms of the 1
102102 contract, license, certificate, or grant. 2
103103 (10) S
104104 ECURITY CLEARANCE .—The term ‘‘secu-3
105105 rity clearance’’ means an authorization to access 4
106106 classified information. 5
107107 (11) U
108108 NAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE .—The term 6
109109 ‘‘unauthorized disclosure’’ means a communication 7
110110 or physical transfer of classified information to an 8
111111 unauthorized recipient. 9
112112 (12) U
113113 NCLASSIFIED INFORMATION .—The term 10
114114 ‘‘unclassified information’’ means information that is 11
115115 not classified information. 12
116116 SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF THE SENATE. 13
117117 (a) F
118118 INDINGS.—The Senate makes the following 14
119119 findings: 15
120120 (1) According to a report released by the Office 16
121121 of the Director of Intelligence in 2020 titled ‘‘Fiscal 17
122122 Year 2019 Annual Report on Security Clearance De-18
123123 terminations’’, more than 4,000,000 individuals have 19
124124 been granted eligibility for a security clearance. 20
125125 (2) At least 1,300,000 of such individuals have 21
126126 been granted access to information classified at the 22
127127 Top Secret level. 23
128128 (b) S
129129 ENSE OF THESENATE.—It is the sense of the 24
130130 Senate that— 25
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134134 (1) the classification system of the Federal Gov-1
135135 ernment is in urgent need of reform; 2
136136 (2) the number of people with access to classi-3
137137 fied information is exceedingly high and must be jus-4
138138 tified or reduced; 5
139139 (3) reforms are necessary to reestablish trust 6
140140 between the Federal Government and the people of 7
141141 the United States; and 8
142142 (4) classification should be limited to the min-9
143143 imum necessary to protect national security while 10
144144 balancing the public’s interest in disclosure. 11
145145 SEC. 4. CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY. 12
146146 (a) I
147147 NGENERAL.—The authority to classify informa-13
148148 tion originally may be exercised only by— 14
149149 (1) the President and, in the performance of ex-15
150150 ecutive duties, the Vice President; 16
151151 (2) the head of an agency or an official of any 17
152152 agency authorized by the President pursuant to a 18
153153 designation of such authority in the Federal Reg-19
154154 ister; and 20
155155 (3) an official of the Federal Government to 21
156156 whom authority to classify information originally has 22
157157 been delegated pursuant to subsection (c). 23
158158 (b) S
159159 COPE OFAUTHORITY.—An individual author-24
160160 ized by this section to classify information originally at 25
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164164 a specified level may also classify the information origi-1
165165 nally at a lower level. 2
166166 (c) D
167167 ELEGATION OFORIGINALCLASSIFICATIONAU-3
168168 THORITY.—An official of the Federal Government may be 4
169169 delegated original classification authority subject to the 5
170170 following: 6
171171 (1) Delegation of original classification author-7
172172 ity shall be limited to the minimum required to ad-8
173173 minister this section. Agency heads shall be respon-9
174174 sible for ensuring that designated subordinate offi-10
175175 cials have a demonstrable and continuing need to ex-11
176176 ercise this authority. 12
177177 (2) Authority to originally classify information 13
178178 at the level designated as ‘‘Top Secret’’ may be dele-14
179179 gated only by the President, in the performance of 15
180180 executive duties, the Vice President, or an agency 16
181181 head or official designated pursuant to subsection 17
182182 (a)(2). 18
183183 (3) Authority to originally classify information 19
184184 at the level designated as ‘‘Secret’’ or ‘‘Confidential’’ 20
185185 may be delegated only by the President, in the per-21
186186 formance of executive duties, the Vice President, or 22
187187 an agency head or official designated pursuant to 23
188188 subsection (a)(2), or the senior agency official de-24
189189 scribed in section 5.4(d) of Executive Order 13526 25
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193193 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified national 1
194194 security information), or successor order, provided 2
195195 that official has been delegated ‘‘Top Secret’’ origi-3
196196 nal classification authority by the agency head. 4
197197 (4) Each delegation of original classification au-5
198198 thority shall be in writing and the authority shall 6
199199 not be redelegated except as provided by paragraph 7
200200 (1), (2), and (3). Each delegation shall identify the 8
201201 official by name or position title. 9
202202 (d) T
203203 RAININGREQUIRED.— 10
204204 (1) I
205205 N GENERAL.—An individual may not be 11
206206 delegated original classification authority under this 12
207207 section unless the individual has first received train-13
208208 ing described in paragraph (2). 14
209209 (2) T
210210 RAINING DESCRIBED.—Training described 15
211211 in this paragraph is training on original classifica-16
212212 tion that includes instruction on the proper safe-17
213213 guarding of classified information and of the crimi-18
214214 nal, civil, and administrative sanctions that may be 19
215215 brought against an individual who fails to protect 20
216216 classified information from unauthorized disclosure. 21
217217 (e) E
218218 XCEPTIONALCASES.— 22
219219 (1) I
220220 N GENERAL.—When an employee, Govern-23
221221 ment contractor, licensee, certificate holder, or 24
222222 grantee of an agency who does not have original 25
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226226 classification authority originates information be-1
227227 lieved by that employee, contractor, licensee, certifi-2
228228 cate holder, or grantee to require classification, the 3
229229 information shall be protected in a manner con-4
230230 sistent with Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 5
231231 note; relating to classified national security informa-6
232232 tion), or successor order. 7
233233 (2) T
234234 RANSMITTAL.—An employee, contractor, 8
235235 licensee, certificate holder, or grantee described in 9
236236 paragraph (1), who originates information described 10
237237 in such paragraph, shall promptly transmit such in-11
238238 formation to— 12
239239 (A) the agency that has appropriate sub-13
240240 ject matter interest and classification authority 14
241241 with respect to this information; or 15
242242 (B) if it is not clear which agency has ap-16
243243 propriate subject matter interest and classifica-17
244244 tion authority with respect to the information, 18
245245 to the Director of the Information Security 19
246246 Oversight Office. 20
247247 (3) A
248248 GENCY DECISIONS.—An agency that re-21
249249 ceives information pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) or 22
250250 (4) shall decide within 30 days whether to classify 23
251251 this information. 24
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255255 (4) INFORMATION SECURITY OVERSIGHT OF -1
256256 FICE ACTION.—If the Director of the Information 2
257257 Security Oversight Office receives information under 3
258258 paragraph (2)(B), the Director shall determine the 4
259259 agency having appropriate subject matter interest 5
260260 and classification authority and forward the infor-6
261261 mation, with appropriate recommendations, to that 7
262262 agency for a classification determination. 8
263263 SEC. 5. PROMOTING EFFICIENT DECLASSIFICATION RE-9
264264 VIEW. 10
265265 (a) I
266266 NGENERAL.—Whenever an agency is processing 11
267267 a request pursuant to section 552 of title 5, United States 12
268268 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information 13
269269 Act’’) or the mandatory declassification review provisions 14
270270 of Executive Order 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating 15
271271 to classified national security information), or successor 16
272272 order, and identifies responsive classified records that are 17
273273 more than 25-years-of-age as of December 31 of the year 18
274274 in which the request is received, the head of the agency 19
275275 shall review the record and process the record for declas-20
276276 sification and release by the National Declassification 21
277277 Center of the National Archives and Records Administra-22
278278 tion. 23
279279 (b) A
280280 PPLICATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply— 24
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284284 (1) regardless of whether or not the record de-1
285285 scribed in such subsection is in the legal custody of 2
286286 the National Archives and Records Administration; 3
287287 and 4
288288 (2) without regard for any other provisions of 5
289289 law or existing agreements or practices between 6
290290 agencies. 7
291291 SEC. 6. TRAINING TO PROMOTE SENSIBLE CLASSIFICA-8
292292 TION. 9
293293 (a) D
294294 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
295295 (1) O
296296 VER-CLASSIFICATION.—The term ‘‘over- 11
297297 classification’’ means classification at a level that ex-12
298298 ceeds the minimum level of classification that is suf-13
299299 ficient to protect the national security of the United 14
300300 States. 15
301301 (2) S
302302 ENSIBLE CLASSIFICATION .—The term 16
303303 ‘‘sensible classification’’ means classification at a 17
304304 level that is the minimum level of classification that 18
305305 is sufficient to protect the national security of the 19
306306 United States. 20
307307 (b) T
308308 RAININGREQUIRED.—Each head of an agency 21
309309 with classification authority shall conduct training for em-22
310310 ployees of the agency with classification authority to dis-23
311311 courage over-classification and to promote sensible classi-24
312312 fication. 25
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316316 SEC. 7. IMPROVEMENTS TO PUBLIC INTEREST DECLAS-1
317317 SIFICATION BOARD. 2
318318 Section 703 of the Public Interest Declassification 3
319319 Act of 2000 (50 U.S.C. 3355a) is amended— 4
320320 (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 5
321321 following: 6
322322 ‘‘(5) A member of the Board whose term has expired 7
323323 may continue to serve until a successor is appointed and 8
324324 sworn in.’’; and 9
325325 (2) in subsection (f)— 10
326326 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Any em-11
327327 ployee’’; and 12
328328 (B) by adding at the end the following: 13
329329 ‘‘(2)(A) In addition to any employees detailed to the 14
330330 Board under paragraph (1), the Board may hire not more 15
331331 than 12 staff members. 16
332332 ‘‘(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to 17
333333 carry out subparagraph (A) such sums as are necessary 18
334334 for fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 19
335335 SEC. 8. IMPLEMENTATION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR CLASSI-20
336336 FICATION AND DECLASSIFICATION. 21
337337 (a) I
338338 NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 22
339339 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 23
340340 the Office of Electronic Government (in this section re-24
341341 ferred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall, in consultation 25
342342 with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Central 26
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346346 Intelligence Agency, the Director of National Intelligence, 1
347347 the Public Interest Declassification Board, the Director of 2
348348 the Information Security Oversight Office, and the head 3
349349 of the National Declassification Center of the National Ar-4
350350 chives and Records Administration— 5
351351 (1) research a technology-based solution— 6
352352 (A) utilizing machine learning and artifi-7
353353 cial intelligence to support efficient and effec-8
354354 tive systems for classification and declassifica-9
355355 tion; and 10
356356 (B) to be implemented on an interoperable 11
357357 and federated basis across the Federal Govern-12
358358 ment; and 13
359359 (2) submit to the President a recommendation 14
360360 regarding a technology-based solution described in 15
361361 paragraph (1) that should be adopted by the Federal 16
362362 Government. 17
363363 (b) S
364364 TAFF.—The Administrator may hire sufficient 18
365365 staff to carry out subsection (a). 19
366366 (c) R
367367 EPORT.—Not later than 540 days after the date 20
368368 of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 21
369369 to Congress a classified report on the technology-based so-22
370370 lution recommended by the Administrator under sub-23
371371 section (a)(2) and the President’s decision regarding its 24
372372 adoption. 25
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376376 SEC. 9. STUDIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON NECESSITY 1
377377 OF SECURITY CLEARANCES. 2
378378 (a) A
379379 GENCYSTUDIES ONNECESSITY OFSECURITY 3
380380 C
381381 LEARANCES.— 4
382382 (1) S
383383 TUDIES REQUIRED .—The head of each 5
384384 agency that grants security clearances to personnel 6
385385 of such agency shall conduct a study on the neces-7
386386 sity of such clearances. 8
387387 (2) R
388388 EPORTS REQUIRED.— 9
389389 (A) I
390390 N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 10
391391 after the date of the enactment of this Act, 11
392392 each head of an agency that conducts a study 12
393393 under paragraph (1) shall submit to Congress 13
394394 a report on the findings of the agency head 14
395395 with respect to such study, which the agency 15
396396 head may classify as appropriate. 16
397397 (B) R
398398 EQUIRED ELEMENTS .—Each report 17
399399 submitted by the head of an agency under sub-18
400400 paragraph (A) shall include, for such agency, 19
401401 the following: 20
402402 (i) The number of personnel eligible 21
403403 for access to information up to the Top Se-22
404404 cret level. 23
405405 (ii) The number of personnel eligible 24
406406 for access to information up to the Secret 25
407407 level. 26
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411411 (iii) Information on the any reduction 1
412412 in the number of personnel eligible for ac-2
413413 cess to classified information based on the 3
414414 study conducted under paragraph (1). 4
415415 (iv) A description of how the agency 5
416416 head will ensure that the number of secu-6
417417 rity clearances granted by such agency will 7
418418 be kept to the minimum required for the 8
419419 conduct of agency functions, commensurate 9
420420 with the size, needs, and mission of the 10
421421 agency. 11
422422 (3) I
423423 NDUSTRY.—This subsection shall apply to 12
424424 the Secretary of Defense in the Secretary’s capacity 13
425425 as the Executive Agent for the National Industrial 14
426426 Security Program and the Secretary shall treat con-15
427427 tractors, licensees, and grantees as personnel of the 16
428428 Department of Defense for purposes of the studies 17
429429 and reports required by this subsection. 18
430430 (b) D
431431 IRECTOR OFNATIONALINTELLIGENCEREVIEW 19
432432 OFSENSITIVECOMPARTMENTED INFORMATION.—The 20
433433 Director of National Intelligence shall— 21
434434 (1) review the number of personnel eligible for 22
435435 access to sensitive compartmented information; and 23
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439439 (2) submit to Congress a report on how the Di-1
440440 rector will ensure that the number of such personnel 2
441441 is limited to the minimum required. 3
442442 (c) A
443443 GENCYREVIEW OFSPECIALACCESSPRO-4
444444 GRAMS.—Each head of an agency who is authorized to es-5
445445 tablish a special access program by Executive Order 6
446446 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to classified na-7
447447 tional security information), or successor order, shall— 8
448448 (1) review the number of personnel of the agen-9
449449 cy eligible for access to such special access pro-10
450450 grams; and 11
451451 (2) submit to Congress a report on how the 12
452452 agency head will ensure that the number of such 13
453453 personnel is limited to the minimum required. 14
454454 (d) S
455455 ECRETARY OFENERGYREVIEW OFQ ANDL 15
456456 C
457457 LEARANCES.—The Secretary of Energy shall— 16
458458 (1) review the number of personnel of the De-17
459459 partment of Energy granted Q and L access; and 18
460460 (2) submit to Congress a report on how the 19
461461 Secretary will ensure that the number of such per-20
462462 sonnel is limited to the minimum required. 21
463463 (e) I
464464 NDEPENDENT REVIEWS.—Not later than 180 22
465465 days after the date on which a study is completed under 23
466466 subsection (a) or a review is completed under subsections 24
467467 (b) through (d), the Director of the Information Security 25
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471471 Oversight Office of the National Archives and Records Ad-1
472472 ministration, the Director of National Intelligence, and the 2
473473 Public Interest Declassification Board shall each review 3
474474 the study or review, as the case may be. 4
475475 Æ
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