§3355b Identification, Collection, and Review for Declassification of Information of Archival Value or Extraordinary Public Interest

Summary

Agencies that can label information as secret must give yearly summary briefings and reports to the Board and, if asked, to the Senate and House intelligence committees. The briefings must say what declassification goals the agency has by law or policy, how it is doing, and what it plans for the next 2 fiscal years. They must pay special attention to records that are important for archives or of great public interest. Department of Defense agencies, including the military and intelligence parts of government, must give one combined briefing. After looking at an agency’s plans, the Board must write recommendations to the agency head and send copies to the President’s national security adviser and the Director of OMB. Those recommendations become public 60 days after they are sent. The Board also gives the President advice on special searches to find and review classified records that are of extraordinary public interest. In making those suggestions, the Board must consider requests or views from Congress, the National Security Council, the Director of National Intelligence, agency heads, citizens, Board members, the effect on other declassification work, costs and budget effects, the benefits, and the impact on national security. Each year when the President’s budget goes to Congress, the Director of OMB must publish the President’s declassification priorities and the money requested to carry them out. If Congress asks the Board to review certain records, the Board will do that when the President requests it and may do it even without the President; any recommendations to the President must also go to the chair and ranking member of the committee that asked for the review. Definitions: Elements of the intelligence community — the intelligence agencies and parts of agencies listed by law.