History
On December 1, 1978, President Jimmy Carter established the Information Security Oversight Office through Executive Order 12065, "National Security Information". ISOO replaced the Interagency Classification Review Committee (ICRC), which had been created by Executive Order 11652 issued by President Richard Nixon in 1972. [1]
The ICRC was composed of representatives from the Departments of Defense, Justice and State; the predecessor to the United States Department of Energy, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the CIA. John Eisenhower chaired the ICRC, which met monthly at the White House. After Eisenhower resigned in 1973, the administrative function of the ICRC was moved to the National Archives and Records Service, a component of the General Services Administration, with the Archivist of the United States, James Rhodes, named as acting chairman. William L. Brown, an attorney with the Atomic Energy Commission, was appointed executive director in October 1973 and served until December, 1975. The committee continued to meet monthly in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. [1]
Former Iowa Congressman Michael Blouin served as the first Director of ISOO. When Blouin stepped down in 1980, President Carter appointed Steven Garfinkel as ISOO's second Director. [1] Garfinkel served as Director until his retirement in January 2002. In May 2002, the Archivist of the United States appointed J. William Leonard as Director with the approval of President Bush. Leonard served as Director until his retirement in January 2008. William J. Bosanko was named the acting Director in January 2008 and was formally appointed as Director by the Archivist of the United States, with the approval of President Bush, on April 16, 2008. Bosanko served as Director until March 2011. On August 1, 2011, the Archivist of the United States appointed John P. Fitzpatrick as ISOO's fifth Director, with the approval of President Obama. Fitzpatrick served as Director until January 2016. William Cira, associate director for Classification Management, served as acting Director until he retired in December 2016, when the President Trump approved Mark Bradley's appointment as Director of ISOO. [1]
Classified information also referred to as Classified documents is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, and mishandling of the material can incur criminal penalties.
The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is a group of separate United States government intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations that work both separately and collectively to conduct intelligence activities which support the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States. Member organizations of the IC include intelligence agencies, military intelligence, and civilian intelligence and analysis offices within federal executive departments.
Declassification is the process of ceasing a protective classification, often under the principle of freedom of information. Procedures for declassification vary by country. Papers may be withheld without being classified as secret, and eventually made available.
The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is an intelligence agency in the United States Department of State. Its central mission is to provide all-source intelligence and analysis in support of U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy. INR is the oldest civilian element of the U.S. Intelligence Community and among the smallest, with roughly 300 personnel. Though lacking the resources and technology of other U.S. intelligence agencies, it is "one of the most highly regarded" for the quality of its work.
The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps, though its broad mandate includes national security, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyberwarfare, and the protection of U.S. naval assets worldwide. NCIS is the successor organization to the former Naval Investigative Service (NIS), which was established by the Office of Naval Intelligence after the Second World War.
Nancy Elisabeth Soderberg is an American foreign policy strategist who currently serves as Resident Director for National Democratic Institute in Kosovo. Soderberg served as the third-ranking official on the Clinton Administration's National Security Council from 1993 to 1997 and as an Alternate Representative to the United Nations as a Presidential Appointee, with the rank of Ambassador, from 1997 to 2001. She has also held positions at the International Crisis Group, Connect U.S. Fund, and the Public Interest Declassification Board. In 2012 she ran unsuccessfully for Florida Senate District 4. Soderberg ran for Congress as a Democrat in the 2018 midterm elections in Florida's 6th congressional district.
Executive Order 13292 was an executive order issued by United States President George W. Bush on March 25, 2003, entitled "Further Amendment to Executive Order 12958, as Amended, Classified National Security Information." The Executive Order modified the manner in which sensitive information was handled at the time as set out by President Bill Clinton's 1995 executive order.
Michael Thomas Blouin, American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979, representing Iowa's 2nd congressional district. He was a candidate in the 2006 race for Governor of Iowa but lost in the primary to Chet Culver.
Operations security (OPSEC) is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information.
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense for all matters concerning the formation of national security and defense policy.
The United States government classification system is established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic beginning in 1951. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 replaced earlier executive orders on the topic and modified the regulations codified to 32 C.F.R. 2001. It lays out the system of classification, declassification, and handling of national security information generated by the U.S. government and its employees and contractors, as well as information received from other governments.
The under secretary of defense for intelligence and security or USD(I&S) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that acts as the principal civilian advisor and deputy to the secretary of defense (SecDef) and deputy secretary of defense (DepSecDef) on matters relating to military intelligence and security. The under secretary is appointed as a civilian by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve at the pleasure of the president.
The withdrawal of previously declassified U.S. federal records is a process in which agencies can remove records from public access that they believe were incorrectly declassified and made available to the public at the National Archives and Records Administration. The process is often referred to as "reclassification," but because the records were never properly declassified and remained classified even when made publicly available, they are not re-classified.
The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, or "ISCAP", provides the public and users of the classification system with a forum for further review of classification decisions. ISCAP states in order to foster a well-informed public while simultaneously protecting national security interests, checks and balances are needed over the classification system. This requires that some of the work of the U.S. Government be done outside the purview of its citizenry.
The Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) is an advisory committee established by the United States Congress with the official mandate of promoting the fullest possible public access to a thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions and activities. The Board is composed of nine individuals: five appointed by the President of the United States and one each appointed by the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority Leader, and Senate Minority Leader. Appointees must be U.S. citizens preeminent in the fields of history, national security, foreign policy, intelligence policy, social science, law, or archives.
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.
J. William Leonard is an American administrator who was appointed Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) on Monday, June 3, 2002.
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is a category of unclassified information within the U.S. Federal government. The CUI program was created by President Obama’s Executive Order 13556 to create a streamlined method for information sharing and safeguarding. The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) acts as the Executive Agent (EA) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and is responsible for oversight of the CUI program. The ISOO monitors the implementation of the CUI program by executive branch agencies. CUI will replace agency specific labels such as For Official Use Only (FOUO), Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU), and Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES) on new data and some data with legacy labels will also qualify as Controlled Unclassified Information. Federal contractors who handle CUI will be required to self-assess with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) under the Cyber AB.
The National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research is a biotechnology and biodefense partnership and collaborative environment of eight U.S. Federal government agencies at Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA.
Ezra Cohen, also known as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, is an American intelligence official who served as the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence during the Trump Administration. He previously served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, national security adviser to the United States attorney general and as a former senior director for intelligence programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC).
