(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.
[...]
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.
[...]