§4353 Procedures for Identifying Records for Frus Series; Declassification, Revisions, and Summaries

Summary

Agencies that work on U.S. foreign policy must, within 180 days after October 28, 1991, make rules for their history office (or a named person if there is no office) to work with the State Department Historian when choosing documents for the FRUS series. They must let people the Historian names and members of the Advisory Committee see the original, unchanged records if those people have the right security clearance. The Historian can also ask to see other records not chosen, to check that the selected documents truly show how decisions were made. When the Historian picks records for FRUS, the agency that created them must do a declassification check under its own rules and finish that review within 120 days. If information must be protected for intelligence or national security, the agency should try to remove only the sensitive bits so the rest can be published. If those deletions would change the meaning, the Historian and agency must try to fix it, and the agency must reply in writing within 60 days. The Historian will tell the Advisory Committee about any review that misses the 120-day deadline and about efforts to resolve disputes. The Advisory Committee can advise the Secretary of State if deletions make the record misleading. The Committee can see original texts with deletions unless an agency head denies access in writing and explains why. Any deletion must be noted in the FRUS volume.