The Joint Staff Information Management Division (IMD) is one of two divisions which make up the Joint Staff Secretariat (SJS) of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

currently located in the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...

in Arlington, Virginia (USA). The other division is called Actions Division (AD) which manages the daily workflow of the staff. Mission: To support the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by providing

information management Information management (IM) concerns a cycle of organizational activity: the acquisition of information from one or more sources, the custodianship and the distribution of that information to those who need it, and its ultimate disposal throug ...

services that include Joint Staff and Combatant Command

records management Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the management of information in an organization throughout its life cycle, from the time of creation or receipt to its eventual dispos ...

policy and oversight; forms, directives, and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

document management; staff action research, archiving, and

content management Content management (CM) is a set of processes and technologies that supports the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. When stored and accessed via computers, this information may be more specifically referre ...

; mandatory and automatic

declassification 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 ...

and security reviews; and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request processing. Information Management Division has approximately thirty personnel divided into two branches: the Records, Research and Content Branch (RRCB), and the Declassification Branch (DB). The division chief position is held by a

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

of GS-15 pay grade. The division also has a military officer as a deputy with the rank of O-5, but all other personnel are civilians, a mix of federal and contract workers. The SJS falls within the Joint Staff's Directorate of Management (DOM) headed by an officer of two-star

flag rank A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

Records, Research and Content Branch

This branch maintains the corporate archive of record of the top five

general officers A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

of the Joint Staff: The

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

(CJCS), the Assistant to the Chairman, the

Vice Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

(VCJCS), the Director (DJS), and Vice Director (VDJS). They are referred to collectively as the "Top Five." The VDJS is dual hatted as the Director of Management of the Joint Staff. The records maintained within this archive are available for Action Officers (AOs) on the Joint Staff to conduct research as a part of processing current business actions on the staff. They are also available for the Joint Staff History Office to prepare official historical accounts of the actions of the Joint Staff. An electronic searchable archive of these actions is maintained within internal staff electronic servers for AO convenience, although the actual record copy of all actions is maintained as a paper file. Additionally, this branch is charged by the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer with

oversight responsibility for the offices of the Top Five, all the staff's directorates, and, on behalf of the CJCS, with oversight of the Records Management Program (RMP) of all

combatant commands A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, an ...

. These commands include:

US Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

(USCENTCOM),

US Southern Command The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, op ...

(USSOUTHCOM), US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM),

United States Pacific Command United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, ...

(USPACOM),

US European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven Unified Combatant Command, unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territorie ...

(USEUCOM), and the new US Africa Command (USAFRICOM) which achieved full fledged

Unified Combatant Command A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, ...

status in October 2008. Official records of the Joint Staff and combatant commands are managed in accordance with internally developed policy and procedures using a disposition schedule which has been approved by the

Archivist of the United States The Archivist of the United States is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of the United States. The Archivist is responsible for the supervision and direction of the National Archives. Th ...

—which makes it law, in effect. Records are managed by the Joint Staff or originating combatant command's records officer throughout their lifecycle until the disposition schedule calls for them to be accessioned to the

National Archives and Records Administration 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 ...

(NARA), at which time NARA assumes physical and legal custody of those records which have been deemed permanent. Also, the Records, Research and Content Branch is responsible for

Enterprise Content Management Enterprise content management (ECM) extends the concept of content management by adding a timeline for each content item and, possibly, enforcing processes for its creation, approval and distribution. Systems using ECM generally provide a secure ...

policy for the Joint Staff. Finally, the RRC Branch maintains the system of directives for the Joint Staff. It also maintains an official repository of

documents for staff reference.

Declassification Branch

This branch processes

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

(FOIA) requests and conducts declassification review of Joint Staff records as part of the Automatic Declassification requirements mandated by

Executive Order 12958 Executive Order 12958 created new standards for the process of identifying and protecting classified information, and led to an unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from the U.S. diplomatic and national security history. In 1995, Un ...

as amended. The branch conducts Mandatory Declassification Reviews (MDRs) when required outside of FOIA, as well as Security Reviews of scholarly works with potential Joint Staff classified equities written by DOD members for publication or for educational purposes. Members of the public who wish access to Joint Staff records must make their requests via the DOD's Freedom of Information Office.Department of Defense Freedom of Information Office
/ref> This group of government and contract civilians works to insure the public has access to Joint Staff unclassified information as an informed (and supportive) polity is critical for successful democratic government. The Declassification Branch is also bound to protect

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 kn ...

to protect the security interests of the country and its citizens both at home and abroad, whether they be civilian or military.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Joint Chiefs of Staff Home Page (United States)

Official National Archives and Records Administration Web Site (United States)

Content management systems Joint Chiefs of Staff

Records, Research and Content Branch

Declassification Branch

See also

References

External links