Reducing Over Classification Act PDF Download

A major theme of this report--and a source of frustration to those who have studied the classification system--is the persistent gap between written regulation and actual practice. Chief executives since Franklin Delano Roosevelt have issued executive orders on classification. Classification authority emanates primarily from these orders, which have long purported to impose common-sense limits, such as a ban on using classification to conceal embarrassing information about government officials. And the current order--Executive Order 13,526, which President Obama issued in December 2009 includes further limits, such as a requirement that records not be classified if significant doubt exists about the need for secrecy. In practice, however, such limits too often fall by the wayside. As a Senate Commission chaired by Daniel Patrick Moynihan found, "Any policy, including on classification and declassification, is only as good as its implementation." This report focuses on improved implementation, i.e., how to make sure that classifiers comply with existing criteria for classifying documents. This report concludes that the primary source of the "implementation gap" is the skewed incentive structure underlying the current system--a structure that all but guarantees overclassification will occur.