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S. 1059:
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000

(Excerpts Concerning Declassification)

[...]

     SEC. 1041. IDENTIFICATION IN BUDGET MATERIALS OF AMOUNTS FOR 
                   DECLASSIFICATION ACTIVITIES AND LIMITATION ON 
                   EXPENDITURES FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES.

       (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 9 of title 10, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding after section 229, as added by 
     section 932(b), the following new section:

     "Sec. 230. Amounts for declassification of records

       "The Secretary of Defense shall include in the budget 
     justification materials submitted to Congress in support of 
     the Department of Defense budget for any fiscal year (as 
     submitted with the budget of the President under section 
     1105(a) of title 31) specific identification, as a budgetary 
     line item, of the amounts required to carry out programmed 
     activities during that fiscal year to declassify records 
     pursuant to Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note) or any 
     successor Executive order or to comply with any statutory 
     requirement, or any request, to declassify Government 
     records.".
       (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter 
     is amended by adding after the item relating to section 229, 
     as added by section 932(b), the following new item:

"230. Amounts for declassification of records.".

       (b) Limitation on Expenditures.--The total amount expended 
     by the Department of Defense during fiscal year 2000 to carry 
     out declassification activities under the provisions of 
     section 3.4 of Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note) may 
     not exceed the Department's planned expenditure level of 
     $51,000,000.
       (c) Certification Required With Respect To Automatic 
     Declassification of Records.--No records of the Department of 
     Defense that have not been reviewed for declassification 
     shall be subject to automatic declassification unless the 
     Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such 
     declassification would not harm the national security.
       (d) Report on Automatic Declassification of Department of 
     Defense Records.--Not later than February 1, 2001, the 
     Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed 
     Service of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
     Armed Services of the Senate a report on the efforts of the 
     Department of Defense relating to the declassification of 
     classified records under the control of the Department of 
     Defense. Such report shall include the following:
       (1) An assessment of whether the Department will be able to 
     review all relevant records for declassification before any 
     date established for automatic declassification.
       (2) An estimate of the cost of reviewing records to meet 
     any requirement to review all relevant records for 
     declassification by a date established for automatic 
     declassification.
       (3) An estimate of the number of records, if any, that the 
     Department will be unable to review for declassification 
     before any such date and the affect on national security of 
     the automatic declassification of those records.
       (4) An estimate of the length of time by which any such 
     date would need to be extended to avoid the automatic 
     declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed 
     as of such date.

[...]

      SEC. 3149. SUPPLEMENT TO PLAN FOR DECLASSIFICATION OF 
                   RESTRICTED DATA AND FORMERLY RESTRICTED DATA.

       (a) Supplement to Plan.--The Secretary of Energy and the 
     Archivist of the United States shall, after consultation with 
     the members of the National Security Council and in 
     consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of 
     other appropriate Federal agencies, develop a supplement to 
     the plan required under subsection (a) of section 3161 of the 
     Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
     Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261; 112 Stat. 2260; 50 U.S.C. 435 
     note).
       (b) Contents of Supplement.--The supplement shall provide 
     for the application of that plan (including in particular the 
     element of the plan required by section 3161(b)(1) of that 
     Act) to all records subject to Executive Order No. 12958 that 
     were determined before the date of the enactment of that Act 
     to be suitable for declassification.
       (c) Limitation on Declassification of Records.--All records 
     referred to in subsection (b) shall be treated, for purposes 
     of section 3161(c) of that Act, in the same manner as records 
     referred to in section 3161(a) of that Act.
       (d) Submission of Supplement.--The Secretary of Energy 
     shall submit the supplement required under subsection (a) to 
     the recipients of the plan referred to in section 3161(d) of 
     that Act.

[...]

 SEC. 3173. IDENTIFICATION IN BUDGET MATERIALS OF AMOUNTS FOR 
                   DECLASSIFICATION ACTIVITIES AND LIMITATION ON 
                   EXPENDITURES FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES.

       (a) Amounts for Declassification of Records.--The Secretary 
     of Energy shall include in the budget justification materials 
     submitted to Congress in support of the Department

[[Page H7594]]

     of Energy budget for any fiscal year (as submitted with the 
     budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 
     United States Code) specific identification, as a budgetary 
     line item, of the amounts required to carry out programmed 
     activities during that fiscal year to declassify records 
     pursuant to Executive Order 12958 (50 U.S.C. 435 note), or 
     any successor Executive order, or to comply with any 
     statutory requirement to declassify Government records.
       (b) Certification Required With Respect To Automatic 
     Declassification of Records.--No records of the Department of 
     Energy that have not as of the date of the enactment of this 
     Act been reviewed for declassification shall be subject to 
     automatic declassification unless the Secretary of Energy 
     certifies to Congress that such declassification would not 
     harm the national security.
       (c) Report on Automatic Declassification of Department of 
     Energy Records.--Not later than February 1, 2001, the 
     Secretary of Energy shall submit to the Committee on Armed 
     Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
     Armed Services of the Senate a report on the efforts of the 
     Department of Energy relating to the declassification of 
     classified records under the control of the Department of 
     Energy. Such report shall include the following:
       (1) An assessment of whether the Department will be able to 
     review all relevant records for declassification before any 
     date established for automatic declassification.
       (2) An estimate of the number of records, if any, that the 
     Department will be unable to review for declassification 
     before any such date and the effect on national security of 
     the automatic declassification of those records.
       (3) An estimate of the length of time by which any such 
     date would need to be extended to avoid the automatic 
     declassification of records that have not yet been reviewed 
     as of such date.
 
[...]

     SEC. 3236. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF SPECIAL ACCESS 
                   PROGRAMS.

       (a) Annual Report on Special Access Programs.--(1) Not 
     later than February 1 of each year, the Administrator shall 
     submit to the congressional defense committees a report on 
     special access programs of the Administration.
       (2) Each such report shall set forth--
       (A) the total amount requested for such programs in the 
     President's budget for the next fiscal year submitted under 
     section 1105 of title 31, United States Code; and
       (B) for each such program in that budget, the following:
       (i) A brief description of the program.
       (ii) A brief discussion of the major milestones established 
     for the program.
       (iii) The actual cost of the program for each fiscal year 
     during which the program has been conducted before the fiscal 
     year during which that budget is submitted.
       (iv) The estimated total cost of the program and the 
     estimated cost of the program for (I) the current fiscal 
     year, (II) the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted, 
     and (III) each of the four succeeding fiscal years during 
     which the program is expected to be conducted.
       (b) Annual Report on New Special Access Programs.--(1) Not 
     later than February 1 of each year, the Administrator shall 
     submit to the congressional defense committees a report that, 
     with respect to each new special access program, provides--
       (A) notice of the designation of the program as a special 
     access program; and
       (B) justification for such designation.
       (2) A report under paragraph (1) with respect to a program 
     shall include--
       (A) the current estimate of the total program cost for the 
     program; and
       (B) an identification of existing programs or technologies 
     that are similar to the technology, or that have a mission 
     similar to the mission, of the program that is the subject of 
     the notice.
       (3) In this subsection, the term "new special access 
     program" means a special access program that has not 
     previously been covered in a notice and justification under 
     this subsection.
       (c) Reports on Changes in Classification of Special Access 
     Programs.--(1) Whenever a change in the classification of a 
     special access program of the Administration is planned to be 
     made or whenever classified information concerning a special 
     access program of the Administration is to be declassified 
     and made public, the Administrator shall submit to the 
     congressional defense committees a report containing a 
     description of the proposed change, the reasons for the 
     proposed change, and notice of any public announcement 
     planned to be made with respect to the proposed change.
       (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), any report 
     referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted not less than 
     14 days before the date on which the proposed change or 
     public announcement is to occur.
       (3) If the Administrator determines that because of 
     exceptional circumstances the requirement of paragraph (2) 
     cannot be met with respect to a proposed change or public 
     announcement concerning a special access program of the 
     Administration, the Administrator may submit the report 
     required by paragraph (1) regarding the proposed change or 
     public announcement at any time before the proposed change or 
     public announcement is made and shall include in the report 
     an explanation of the exceptional circumstances.
       (d) Notice of Change in SAP Designation Criteria.--Whenever 
     there is a modification or termination of the policy and 
     criteria used for designating a program of the Administration 
     as a special access program, the Administrator shall promptly 
     notify the congressional defense committees of such 
     modification or termination. Any such notification shall 
     contain the reasons for the modification or termination and, 
     in the case of a modification, the provisions of the policy 
     as modified.
       (e) Waiver Authority.--(1) The Administrator may waive any 
     requirement under subsection (a), (b), or (c) that certain 
     information be included in a report under that subsection if 
     the Administrator determines that inclusion of that 
     information in the report would adversely affect the national 
     security. The Administrator may waive the report-and-wait 
     requirement in subsection (f) if the Administrator determines 
     that compliance with such requirement would adversely affect 
     the national security. Any waiver under this paragraph shall 
     be made on a case-by-case basis.
       (2) If the Administrator exercises the authority provided 
     under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall provide the 
     information described in that subsection with respect to the 
     special access program concerned, and the justification for 
     the waiver, jointly to the chairman and ranking minority 
     member of each of the congressional defense committees.
       (f) Report and Wait for Initiating New Programs.--A special 
     access program may not be initiated until--
       (1) the congressional defense committees are notified of 
     the program; and
       (2) a period of 30 days elapses after such notification is 
     received.


Conference Report H. Rep. 106-301
(excerpts on declassification)

[...]

     Identification in budget materials of amounts for 
         declassification activities and limitation on 
         expenditures for such activities (sec. 1041)

       The House amendment contained a provision (sec. 1031) that 
     would require the Secretary of Defense to establish a new 
     budgetary line item for the declassification activities of 
     the Department of Defense and limit expenditures for such 
     activities to $20,000,000 in fiscal year 2000.
       The Senate bill contained no similar provision.
       The Senate recedes with an amendment.
       The provision would clarify the activities to be covered by 
     the new budgetary line item. The conferees anticipate that 
     the identification of declassification funding as a budgetary 
     line item in accordance with the requirements of this 
     subsection will better enable Congress in future years to 
     establish appropriate levels for such expenditures.
       The Department has provided the conferees with the 
     following estimates for planned declassification expenditures 
     of major components of the Department under the provisions in 
     3.4 of Executive Order 12958 for fiscal year 2000: National 
     Security Agency, $10.0 million; Defense Intelligence Agency, 
     $1.0 million; Army, $16.0 million; Navy, $16.0 million; and 
     Air Force, $8.0 million.
       The provision would prohibit expenditures for the specified 
     activities in excess of these planned levels. It is not 
     intended as a limitation on indirect declassification 
     expenditures in accounts other than those identified by the 
     Department and listed above. The conferees direct the 
     Department to report to Congress not later than 120 days 
     after the date of enactment of this Act on any such 
     expenditures that the Department expects to incur in fiscal 
     year 2000.
       The provision would prohibit the automatic declassification 
     of records that have not yet been reviewed for 
     declassification unless the Secretary certifies to Congress 
     that such declassification would not harm the national 
     security. The conferees are aware that the needless 
     classification of records that are no longer sensitive can 
     impose costs, and undermine the credibility of the 
     classification system. The conferees do not believe that it 
     would be in the national security interest of the United 
     States to declassify records that would otherwise remain 
     classified, simply because the review of those records has 
     not yet been completed.
       The provision would require the Secretary to report to 
     Congress on whether the Department will be able to meet any 
     date established for automatic declassification of records. 
     If the Secretary reports that the Department will be unable 
     to meet any such date, the conferees expect that the 
     Administration would propose, and Congress would enact, a 
     further extension.
       The conferees are concerned with reports over the last 
     three years of inadequate or incorrect declassification 
     decisions of the Department and other agencies that may have 
     resulted in the release of information that could harm the 
     national security. The conferees expect the Department to 
     conduct the declassification process in a careful manner 
     which provides adequate time to review records and make 
     decisions consistent with the national security interests of 
     the United States.

[...]

     Supplement to plan for declassification of restricted data 
         and formerly restricted data (sec. 3149)

       The Senate bill contained a provision (sec. 1076) that 
     would modify section 3161 of the Strom Thurmond National 
     Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 
     105-261) by requiring the Special Historical Records Review 
     Plan, prepared jointly by the Secretary of Energy and the 
     Archivist of the United States, to include those records that 
     have been or are currently in the process of being 
     declassified pursuant to Executive Order 12958.
       The House amendment contained no similar provision.
       The House recedes with a clarifying amendment.

[...]

    Congressional oversight of special access programs (sec. 
         3236)

       The conferees agree to include a provision that would 
     require the Administrator to submit an annual report to the 
     congressional defense committees on the special access 
     programs of the Administration. Each annual report shall 
     contain budgetary information for special access programs and 
     a brief discussion of each program. This provision would also 
     require an annual report on the new special access programs 
     with a justification for designating the program as special 
     access, and an identification of existing programs or 
     technologies that are similar to the subject of the new 
     special access program. A new special access program would 
     not be allowed to begin until 30 days after the defense 
     committees have been notified that a new special access 
     program is about to be initiated. The provision would also 
     require a report to the congressional defense committees 14 
     days before any special access program is declassified.

[...]




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