A Department of Defense instruction issued on Friday reinforces the policy
that the DoD Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to have full access to
all records, including classified records, that it needs to perform its
function, and that no DoD official other than the Secretary himself may
block such access.
"The OIG must have expeditious and unrestricted access to all records...,
regardless of classification, medium (e.g. paper, electronic) or format
(e.g., digitized images, data) and information available to or within any
DoD Component, and be able to obtain copies of all records and information
as required for its official use once appropriate security clearances and
access are substantiated for the OIG DoD personnel involved," the
instruction states.
See "Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense Access
to Records and Information," DoD Instruction 7050.03, March 22, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/i7050_03.pdf
By stressing that the Inspector General's access is independent of a
record's classification, medium or format, this language elaborates and
bolsters the text of a previous version of the instruction, which did not
make those distinctions.
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/i7050_03-2000.pdf
Furthermore, the new instruction specifies, "No officer, employee,
contractor, or Service member of any DoD Component may deny the OIG DoD
access to records." Only the Secretary of Defense may invoke a statutory
exemption to limit IG access to certain intelligence, counterintelligence,
or other sensitive matters, which he must then justify in a report to
Congress.
As a result these robust access provisions, the DoD Inspector General is
well-positioned to conduct internal oversight not only of the Pentagon's
extensive classified programs, but also of the classification system
itself, particularly since the Department of Defense is the most prolific
classifier in the U.S. government.
In fact, the Inspector General of each executive branch agency that
classifies national security information is now required by the Reducing
Over-Classification Act of 2010 to evaluate the agency's classification
program. Each Inspector General was directed "to identify policies,
procedures, rules, regulations, or management practices that may be
contributing to persistent misclassification of material."
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ258/pdf/PLAW-111publ258.pdf
The first evaluation is due to be completed by September 30, 2013.
Vexingly, the Act did not provide a functional definition of
"over-classification" or "misclassification." Therefore, the first hurdle
that the IG evaluations must overcome is to determine the nature and the
parameters of the problem of over-classification.
PRIVACY AND CLOUD COMPUTING, AND MORE FROM CRS
New and updated products from the Congressional Research Service that
Congress has not made readily available to the public include the
following.
Cloud Computing: Constitutional and Statutory Privacy Protections, March
22, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43015.pdf
The National Broadband Plan Goals: Where Do We Stand?, March 19, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43016.pdf
U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Trade Facilitation, Enforcement, and
Security, March 22, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43014.pdf
Itemized Tax Deductions for Individuals: Data Analysis, March 21, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43012.pdf
International Monetary Fund: Background and Issues for Congress, March 21,
2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42019.pdf
China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities --
Background and Issues for Congress, March 21, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33153.pdf
Former Presidents: Pensions, Office Allowances, and Other Federal
Benefits, March 21, 2013:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34631.pdf
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@fas.org
voice: (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood
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