Executive Order 13526 was issued on December 29, 2009, by
United States President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
.
[''Promoting Openness and Accountability by Making Classification a Two-Way Street''](_blank)
by William H. Leary, Special Adviser to the National Security Advisor and Senior Director for Records and Access Management, National Security Staff, 29 December 2009 It is one of a series of
executive orders from US Presidents outlining how
classified information
Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...
should be handled. It revokes and replaces the previous Executive Orders in effect for this, which were
EO 12958 (text) and
EO 13292 (text).
Issuance
As a component of the Obama Administration's initiative to improve transparency and open-access to the Federal Government and the information it produces formally introduced upon taking office in late January 2009 and as a result of an agency-wide review and recommendation process ordered in May of that same year, the issuance of EO 13526 was ultimately prompted by several factors.
One factor was the large backlog of documents scheduled to be automatically
declassified
Declassification is the process of ceasing a protective classification, often under the principle of freedom of information. Procedures for declassification vary by country. Papers may be withheld without being classified as secret, and event ...
on December 31, 2009, and how to deal with that reality. Another factor was delivering on a campaign promise.
These latest regulations, at the time, went into full effect on June 25, 2010, except for sections 1.7, 3.3, and 3.7, which were effective immediately on December 29, 2009.
[Part 1, Sec. 1.3(a)(1) & 1.3(c)(2)]
Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009, ''Classified National Security Information''
Federal Register - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Vol. 75, No. 2, 5 January 2010, p.708.[Order of December 29, 2009, ''Original Classification Authority''](_blank)
Federal Register - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Vol. 75, No. 2, 5 January 2010, p.735.
[Part 6, Sec. 6.2(g) & 6.3]
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 5 January 2010
Significant changes
EO 13526 restated the authorized list of designees who can originate classification, in effect rescinding any previous designations made by officials or agency heads to subordinates.
A significant provision of EO 13526 is the creation of the
National Declassification Center
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
. The major focus is the idea that information should become declassified systematically as soon as practicable. Specific time limits are mentioned for different kinds of information, but there is also the provision that information that still needs to be classified can stay classified. Mechanisms are outlined for periodic reevaluation of the need to classify information, even if the result of the evaluation is to keep the information classified
Criticism
It has been claimed, but not substantiated, that many classified documents are still illegally blocked from FOIA requests and treated as such despite the fact that classification must not be used to "conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; or to prevent embarrassment".
See also
{{wikisource
*
Classified information
Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...
*
Classified information in the United States
The United States government classification system is established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic beginning in 1951. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 repla ...
* Previous Executive Orders covering national classified information:
**
Executive Order 10290 (September 24, 1951;
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
)
**
Executive Order 10501
Executive (Exe (disambiguation), exe., Exec (disambiguation), exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (exec ...
(November 5, 1953;
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
)
**
Executive Order 11652
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
(March 8, 1972;
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
)
**
Executive Order 12065
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
(June 28, 1978;
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
)
**
Executive Order 12356
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
(April 2, 1982;
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
)
**
Executive Order 12958 (April 17, 1995;
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
)
**
Executive Order 13292 (March 21, 2003;
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
)
References
External links
*
Text of Executive Order 13526
Full text - Government Printing Office
2009 in the United States
Executive orders of Barack Obama
Classified information in the United States
2009 in American law