Comment on 36 CFR 1260

The writer of the proposed rule betrays a profound ignorance of the distinction between "information" or "equity" and "record." This is exemplified in the references to: - "information that has been accesstioned by NARA" - "agency personnel... with delegated authority... to... declassify information originated by that agency" - "its information will be automatically declassified" - "its equity will be automatically declassified" - "NARA will automatically declassify their information" - "information in NARA's legal custody" - "information in its physical and legal custody" found in Sections 1260.20, 1260.36, 1260.42, 1260.44, 1260.56, 1260.78, 1260.80, and 1260.82. NARA does not have physical or legal custody of ANY National Security Information (NSI), only of records that contain such information. The agencies who created those records (with a few exceptions) retain the ownership of that NSI. Original Classification Authorities retain information declassification authority, and do not delegate it to reviewers at NARA or anywhere else; thus, agency reviewers at NARA cannot declassify any classified information, only records containing such information. The definition of "Declassification" in Sec. 1260.2 should be expanded beyond the declassification of information (very little of which will take place under the auspices of this rule) to include the declassification of records, an event which will occur (to varying degrees) with great regularity according to the proposed rule. For Section 1260.28, I would appreciate seeing a statement that the three listed categories of nuclear weapons information are NOT covered by E.O. 13526, and that this section is included for information purposes. Also, there should be an indication that records merely marked as RD, FRD, or TFNI -- even if it appears that they do not contain any information from one of those categories -- must be referred to DOE. Sec. 1260.74, MDR: FOIA-type review also required.