S. 1059:
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000(Excerpts Concerning Declassification)
[...] SEC. 1041. IDENTIFICATION IN BUDGET MATERIALS OF AMOUNTS FOR DECLASSIFICATION ACTIVITIES AND LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES. (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 9 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 229, as added by section 932(b), the following new section: "Sec. 230. Amounts for declassification of records "The Secretary of Defense shall include in the budget justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the Department of Defense budget for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31) specific identification, as a budgetary line item, of the amounts required to carry out programmed activities during that fiscal year to declassify records pursuant to Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note) or any successor Executive order or to comply with any statutory requirement, or any request, to declassify Government records.". (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding after the item relating to section 229, as added by section 932(b), the following new item: "230. Amounts for declassification of records.". (b) Limitation on Expenditures.--The total amount expended by the Department of Defense during fiscal year 2000 to carry out declassification activities under the provisions of section 3.4 of Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note) may not exceed the Department's planned expenditure level of $51,000,000. (c) Certification Required With Respect To Automatic Declassification of Records.--No records of the Department of Defense that have not been reviewed for declassification shall be subject to automatic declassification unless the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such declassification would not harm the national security. (d) Report on Automatic Declassification of Department of Defense Records.--Not later than February 1, 2001, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Service of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate a report on the efforts of the Department of Defense relating to the declassification of classified records under the control of the Department of Defense. Such report shall include the following: (1) An assessment of whether the Department will be able to review all relevant records for declassification before any date established for automatic declassification. (2) An estimate of the cost of reviewing records to meet any requirement to review all relevant records for declassification by a date established for automatic declassification. (3) An estimate of the number of records, if any, that the Department will be unable to review for declassification before any such date and the affect on national security of the automatic declassification of those records. (4) An estimate of the length of time by which any such date would need to be extended to avoid the automatic declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed as of such date. [...] SEC. 3149. SUPPLEMENT TO PLAN FOR DECLASSIFICATION OF RESTRICTED DATA AND FORMERLY RESTRICTED DATA. (a) Supplement to Plan.--The Secretary of Energy and the Archivist of the United States shall, after consultation with the members of the National Security Council and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, develop a supplement to the plan required under subsection (a) of section 3161 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261; 112 Stat. 2260; 50 U.S.C. 435 note). (b) Contents of Supplement.--The supplement shall provide for the application of that plan (including in particular the element of the plan required by section 3161(b)(1) of that Act) to all records subject to Executive Order No. 12958 that were determined before the date of the enactment of that Act to be suitable for declassification. (c) Limitation on Declassification of Records.--All records referred to in subsection (b) shall be treated, for purposes of section 3161(c) of that Act, in the same manner as records referred to in section 3161(a) of that Act. (d) Submission of Supplement.--The Secretary of Energy shall submit the supplement required under subsection (a) to the recipients of the plan referred to in section 3161(d) of that Act. [...] SEC. 3173. IDENTIFICATION IN BUDGET MATERIALS OF AMOUNTS FOR DECLASSIFICATION ACTIVITIES AND LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES. (a) Amounts for Declassification of Records.--The Secretary of Energy shall include in the budget justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the Department [[Page H7594]] of Energy budget for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code) specific identification, as a budgetary line item, of the amounts required to carry out programmed activities during that fiscal year to declassify records pursuant to Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note), or any successor Executive order, or to comply with any statutory requirement to declassify Government records. (b) Certification Required With Respect To Automatic Declassification of Records.--No records of the Department of Energy that have not as of the date of the enactment of this Act been reviewed for declassification shall be subject to automatic declassification unless the Secretary of Energy certifies to Congress that such declassification would not harm the national security. (c) Report on Automatic Declassification of Department of Energy Records.--Not later than February 1, 2001, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate a report on the efforts of the Department of Energy relating to the declassification of classified records under the control of the Department of Energy. Such report shall include the following: (1) An assessment of whether the Department will be able to review all relevant records for declassification before any date established for automatic declassification. (2) An estimate of the number of records, if any, that the Department will be unable to review for declassification before any such date and the effect on national security of the automatic declassification of those records. (3) An estimate of the length of time by which any such date would need to be extended to avoid the automatic declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed as of such date. [...] SEC. 3236. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAMS. (a) Annual Report on Special Access Programs.--(1) Not later than February 1 of each year, the Administrator shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on special access programs of the Administration. (2) Each such report shall set forth-- (A) the total amount requested for such programs in the President's budget for the next fiscal year submitted under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code; and (B) for each such program in that budget, the following: (i) A brief description of the program. (ii) A brief discussion of the major milestones established for the program. (iii) The actual cost of the program for each fiscal year during which the program has been conducted before the fiscal year during which that budget is submitted. (iv) The estimated total cost of the program and the estimated cost of the program for (I) the current fiscal year, (II) the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, and (III) each of the four succeeding fiscal years during which the program is expected to be conducted. (b) Annual Report on New Special Access Programs.--(1) Not later than February 1 of each year, the Administrator shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report that, with respect to each new special access program, provides-- (A) notice of the designation of the program as a special access program; and (B) justification for such designation. (2) A report under paragraph (1) with respect to a program shall include-- (A) the current estimate of the total program cost for the program; and (B) an identification of existing programs or technologies that are similar to the technology, or that have a mission similar to the mission, of the program that is the subject of the notice. (3) In this subsection, the term "new special access program" means a special access program that has not previously been covered in a notice and justification under this subsection. (c) Reports on Changes in Classification of Special Access Programs.--(1) Whenever a change in the classification of a special access program of the Administration is planned to be made or whenever classified information concerning a special access program of the Administration is to be declassified and made public, the Administrator shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report containing a description of the proposed change, the reasons for the proposed change, and notice of any public announcement planned to be made with respect to the proposed change. (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), any report referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted not less than 14 days before the date on which the proposed change or public announcement is to occur. (3) If the Administrator determines that because of exceptional circumstances the requirement of paragraph (2) cannot be met with respect to a proposed change or public announcement concerning a special access program of the Administration, the Administrator may submit the report required by paragraph (1) regarding the proposed change or public announcement at any time before the proposed change or public announcement is made and shall include in the report an explanation of the exceptional circumstances. (d) Notice of Change in SAP Designation Criteria.--Whenever there is a modification or termination of the policy and criteria used for designating a program of the Administration as a special access program, the Administrator shall promptly notify the congressional defense committees of such modification or termination. Any such notification shall contain the reasons for the modification or termination and, in the case of a modification, the provisions of the policy as modified. (e) Waiver Authority.--(1) The Administrator may waive any requirement under subsection (a), (b), or (c) that certain information be included in a report under that subsection if the Administrator determines that inclusion of that information in the report would adversely affect the national security. The Administrator may waive the report-and-wait requirement in subsection (f) if the Administrator determines that compliance with such requirement would adversely affect the national security. Any waiver under this paragraph shall be made on a case-by-case basis. (2) If the Administrator exercises the authority provided under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall provide the information described in that subsection with respect to the special access program concerned, and the justification for the waiver, jointly to the chairman and ranking minority member of each of the congressional defense committees. (f) Report and Wait for Initiating New Programs.--A special access program may not be initiated until-- (1) the congressional defense committees are notified of the program; and (2) a period of 30 days elapses after such notification is received.
Conference Report H. Rep. 106-301
(excerpts on declassification)
[...] Identification in budget materials of amounts for declassification activities and limitation on expenditures for such activities (sec. 1041) The House amendment contained a provision (sec. 1031) that would require the Secretary of Defense to establish a new budgetary line item for the declassification activities of the Department of Defense and limit expenditures for such activities to $20,000,000 in fiscal year 2000. The Senate bill contained no similar provision. The Senate recedes with an amendment. The provision would clarify the activities to be covered by the new budgetary line item. The conferees anticipate that the identification of declassification funding as a budgetary line item in accordance with the requirements of this subsection will better enable Congress in future years to establish appropriate levels for such expenditures. The Department has provided the conferees with the following estimates for planned declassification expenditures of major components of the Department under the provisions in 3.4 of Executive Order 12958 for fiscal year 2000: National Security Agency, $10.0 million; Defense Intelligence Agency, $1.0 million; Army, $16.0 million; Navy, $16.0 million; and Air Force, $8.0 million. The provision would prohibit expenditures for the specified activities in excess of these planned levels. It is not intended as a limitation on indirect declassification expenditures in accounts other than those identified by the Department and listed above. The conferees direct the Department to report to Congress not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act on any such expenditures that the Department expects to incur in fiscal year 2000. The provision would prohibit the automatic declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed for declassification unless the Secretary certifies to Congress that such declassification would not harm the national security. The conferees are aware that the needless classification of records that are no longer sensitive can impose costs, and undermine the credibility of the classification system. The conferees do not believe that it would be in the national security interest of the United States to declassify records that would otherwise remain classified, simply because the review of those records has not yet been completed. The provision would require the Secretary to report to Congress on whether the Department will be able to meet any date established for automatic declassification of records. If the Secretary reports that the Department will be unable to meet any such date, the conferees expect that the Administration would propose, and Congress would enact, a further extension. The conferees are concerned with reports over the last three years of inadequate or incorrect declassification decisions of the Department and other agencies that may have resulted in the release of information that could harm the national security. The conferees expect the Department to conduct the declassification process in a careful manner which provides adequate time to review records and make decisions consistent with the national security interests of the United States. [...] Supplement to plan for declassification of restricted data and formerly restricted data (sec. 3149) The Senate bill contained a provision (sec. 1076) that would modify section 3161 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261) by requiring the Special Historical Records Review Plan, prepared jointly by the Secretary of Energy and the Archivist of the United States, to include those records that have been or are currently in the process of being declassified pursuant to Executive Order 12958. The House amendment contained no similar provision. The House recedes with a clarifying amendment. [...] Congressional oversight of special access programs (sec. 3236) The conferees agree to include a provision that would require the Administrator to submit an annual report to the congressional defense committees on the special access programs of the Administration. Each annual report shall contain budgetary information for special access programs and a brief discussion of each program. This provision would also require an annual report on the new special access programs with a justification for designating the program as special access, and an identification of existing programs or technologies that are similar to the subject of the new special access program. A new special access program would not be allowed to begin until 30 days after the defense committees have been notified that a new special access program is about to be initiated. The provision would also require a report to the congressional defense committees 14 days before any special access program is declassified. [...]