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FAS Note: This Department of Energy report to Congress follows an earlier report to Congress on inadvertent disclosures of classified information.

The Secretary of Energy
Washington, DC 20585

February 15, 2000

The Honorable John Warner
Chairman
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999, section 3161, "Protection Against Inadvertent Release of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data," requires that I provide the committee a report of the inadvertent release of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data in other Government agency records declassified under Executive Order 12958 that occurred after enactment.

As a result of the Department's audit of approximately 52 million pages of records, the Department has discovered the inadvertent release of other Government agency records compromising approximately 25 documents, which contain pages of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data. None of the inadvertent releases was made by Department of Energy personnel.

Records that were found to contain inadvertent releases of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data have been appropriately protected from further public access. Remedial actions taken for each of the records are detailed in the enclosed report.

If you have any further questions, please contact me or Mr. Joseph S. Mahaley, Director, Office of Security Affairs, 202-586-6591.

Enclosure

cc w/enclosure:
The Honorable Carl Levin
Ranking Minority Member

DOE/NN-52-0002

Second Report on Inadvertent Releases of Restricted Data and
Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order 12958 (U)

Report to:

The Committee on Armed Services of the Senate
The Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Nuclear and National Security Information
Germantown, Maryland 20874

December 1999

UNCLASSIFIED

RESTRICTED DATA AND FORMERLY RESTRICTED DATA
FOUND BY COLLECTION

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 and 2000 (Public Laws 105-261 and 106-65), require that the Secretary of Energy notify the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate, the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs of inadvertent releases of Restricted Data (RD) or Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) associated with records processed under Executive Order (E.O.) 12958.

As a result of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) audits of approximately 52 million pages of publicly available records accessioned by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Department discovered 25 documents containing RD and FRD which were inadvertently released. The documents total approximately 560 pages of which about 40 pages were classified. The documents were marked Secret, except for one marked Top Secret and two which were unmarked.

The findings did not concern any records of the DOE or its predecessor organizations.

The improperly declassified 25 documents constitute significantly less than a small fraction of one percent of the total number of declassified documents audited by the Department. These 25 documents are all at least 25 years old. They contain the following types of information which could aid an adversary in obtaining a nuclear weapon of mass destruction:

Even though the classified documents described in the classified appendix were declassified improperly and publicly available for 1 to 4 years, there is no direct evidence that classified information was compromised, i.e., obtained and used by a researcher. The 25 documents have been withdrawn from public access and protected in accordance with DOE requirements.

Specific details regarding these inadvertent releases are contained in the classified appendix, attached.

UNCLASSIFIED

Source: PDF Version

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