§ 9.10 - Mandatory declassification review

§ 9.10 Mandatory declassification review

(a) Scope. All information classified under E.O. 13526 or predecessor orders shall be subject to mandatory declassification review upon request by a member of the public or a U.S. government employee or agency with the following exceptions:

(1) Information originated by the incumbent President or the incumbent Vice President; the incumbent President's White House staff or the incumbent Vice President's staff; committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the incumbent President; other entities within the Executive Office of the President that solely advise and assist the incumbent President;

(2) Information that is the subject of pending litigation; and

(3) Information that has been reviewed for declassification within the past two years which need not be reviewed again, but the requester shall be given appeal rights.

(b) Requests. Requests for mandatory declassification review should be addressed to the Office of Information Programs and Services, U.S. Department of State, SA-2, 515 22nd St. NW., Washington, DC 20522-8100.

(c) Description of information. In order to be processed, a request for mandatory declassification review must describe the document or the material containing the information sought with sufficient specificity to enable the Department to locate the document or material with a reasonable amount of effort. Whenever a request does not sufficiently describe the material, the Department shall notify the requester that no further action will be taken unless additional description of the information sought is provided.

(d) Refusal to confirm or deny existence of information. The Department may refuse to confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of requested information whenever the fact of existence or nonexistence is itself classified.

(e) Processing. In responding to mandatory declassification review requests, the Department shall make a review determination as promptly as possible, but in no case more than one year from the date of receipt of the request, and notify the requester accordingly. When the requested information cannot be declassified in its entirety, the Department shall release all meaningful portions that can be declassified and that are not exempt from disclosure on other grounds.

(f) Other agency information. When the Department receives a request for information in its possession that was originally classified by another agency, it shall refer the request and the pertinent information to the other agency unless that agency has agreed that the Department may review such information for declassification on behalf of that agency. In any case, the Department is responsible for responding to the requester with regard to any responsive information, including other-agency information, unless a prior arrangement has been made with the originating agency.

(g) Foreign government information. In the case of a request for material containing foreign government information, the Department shall determine whether the information may be declassified and may, if appropriate, consult with the relevant foreign government on that issue. If the Department is not the agency that initially received the foreign government information, it may consult with the original receiving agency.

(h) Documents or material containing RD or Transclassified Foreign Nuclear Information (TFNI). Documents or material containing RD or TFNI will be submitted to DOE for review. Documents containing FRD will be submitted to DOE or DoD for review.

(i) Appeals. Any denial of a mandatory declassification review request may be appealed to the ARP. A denial by the ARP of a mandatory declassification review appeal may be further appealed to the ISCAP. A failure of the Department to make a determination on a mandatory declassification review request within one year from the date of its receipt or to respond to an appeal of a denial by the ARP within 180 calendar days of its receipt may be appealed directly to the ISCAP.