Title 50 — War and National DefenseRelease 119-73
§3346 Compilation and organization of previously declassified records
Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 45— - MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AUTHORITIES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - SECURITY CLEARANCES AND CLASSIFIED INFORMATION › § 3346
Summary
The Department of Defense does not have to gather or sort records that are already declassified and publicly available when doing a special search. A "special search" means a declassification review ordered by a law, an Executive order, or the President (or someone he authorized).
Full Legal Text
Title 50, §3346
War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)
(c)The Department of Defense may not be required, when conducting a special search, to compile or organize records that have already been declassified and placed into the public domain.
(d)For the purpose of this section, the term “special search” means the response of the Department of Defense to any of the following:
(1)A statutory requirement to conduct a declassification review on a specified set of agency records.
(2)An Executive order to conduct a declassification review on a specified set of agency records.
(3)An order from the President or an official with delegated authority from the President to conduct a declassification review on a specified set of agency records.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This section, referred to in subsec. (d), is section 1075 of H.R. 5408 of the 106th Congress, as introduced on Oct. 6, 2000, and as enacted into law by section 1 of Pub. L. 106–398, Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654. See Codification note below. Codification Section was formerly classified as a note under section 435 of this title prior to editorial reclassification as this section. Section is comprised of section 1075 of H.R. 5408 of the 106th Congress, as introduced on Oct. 6, 2000, and as enacted into law by section 1 of Pub. L. 106–398, Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654. Subsec. (a) of section 1075 amended former section 230 of Title 10, Armed Forces and subsec. (b) of section 1075 was not classified to the Code.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
50 U.S.C. § 3346
Title 50 — War and National Defense
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73