FAS Note: The following letter, obtained from an executive branch official, presents the Pentagon's rejection of an Energy Department proposal to increase the classification level of certain very sensitive nuclear weapons information from Secret (RD) to Top Secret (RD), a proposal known as the "Higher Fences Initiative." As of June 2000, the proposal remained dormant.
Office of the Secretary of Defense General Eugene E. Habiger, USAF (Retired)
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000December 17, 1999
Director, Office of Security and Emergency Operations
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20585Dear General Habiger:
The recent submission of the Higher Fences Initiative paper to the Department of Defense (DoD) represents the culmination of a two-year effort on the part of the Department of Energy (DOE) to respond to our request that the nuclear weapon information requiring protection at the TOP SECRET (TS) level be more narrowly scoped and better defined. At this juncture, we feel it would be premature to form an Interagency Working Group to devise an implementation plan for the Higher Fences Initiative. The appropriate DOD entities must first have time to review its recommendations and assess the attendant ramifications should they be adopted from a cost-benefit perspective, particularly considering that this information has been adequately protected at the SECRET level within the DoD for the past 40+ years.
Even working with this significantly shortened list, we anticipate that the costs of implementing such a program would be substantial. They would extend to such requirements as the upgrade of clearances with Single-Scope Background Investigations, the establishment or addition of TOP SECRET storage facilities at government and contractor facilities, the sanitization of SECRET-level computers and computer networks where this information currently resides and institution of new TS-level computing capabilities, etc. It is possible that the DoD will not be able to execute Higher Fences without some provision being made for cost sharing.
In addition to purely financial considerations, the DoD is concerned that there may also be operational costs. For example, the ability to respond to urgent stockpile problems may be inhibited if it should happen that the necessary responders are not cleared at the appropriate level. Likewise, our ability to exchange information with contractors or foreign governments may be constrained.
In order to give the Higher Fences Initiative the serious consideration it deserves, we almost certainly will have to exceed the 30-day timeline that your recommend. However, you may be assured that the focal point for the DoD review, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I), with assistance from the Office of Nuclear Matters, will strive to complete it as expeditiously as possible. The C3I POC for this issue is Col. William Coleman at (703)697-5568, and the Nuclear Matters POC is Ms. Katherine Callahan at (703)695-5240.
Identical letter to:
Sincerely,
Hans Mark
Director
Defense Research and EngineeringArthur Money
Assistant Secretary of Defense
Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence
Brigadier General Thomas F. Gioconda, USAF
Acting Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20585