FAS

Controls on Unclassified Info Invoked to Evade FOIA

05.03.10 | 2 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

A federal court ruled (pdf) last year that the Department of Energy was obliged to disclose certain records concerning the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) in Idaho after they were requested under the Freedom of Information Act by a public interest group, Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free.  The court said that the exemptions to the FOIA claimed by DOE were not applicable in this case, and that the requested documents therefore must be released.

In order to prevent that from happening, DOE decided to designate portions of the records as “Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information” or UCNI, which is protected by the Atomic Energy Act, and beyond the reach of FOIA.  “The documents have not previously been treated as UCNI,” DOE admitted to the court (pdf) last year, “and information related to the ATR has not been treated as UCNI since 1992, but” — prompted by the judge’s adverse FOIA ruling — “DOE has now determined that redacted portions of these documents fall within the statutory definition of UCNI.”

While there is abundant historical reason (pdf) to be skeptical of such opportunistic attempts to evade public disclosure, there is no specific reason to doubt that DOE acted in good faith in this case.  It may well be true that release of the withheld portions of the records — describing high consequence accident scenarios and locations of vital safety and security systems — could facilitate a “potentially catastrophic” act of sabotage, as DOE officials contended.

The FOIA requesters themselves agreed to accept the documents as redacted for UCNI.  The parties reached a settlement and the case was dismissed. Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free declared victory with the receipt of some 1100 pages documenting ATR safety issues.

Last week, DOE’s Karl Hugo, who participated as a government classification expert in the case, presented his view of the issues (pdf) to a conference of DOE classification officers in Germantown, Maryland.  Two months ago, DOE issued an updated Order on “Identification and Protection of Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information” (pdf) (DOE Order O471.1B, March 1, 2010).  Within weeks, the Obama Administration is expected to issue a somewhat controversial new executive order that is intended to standardize the use of controls on unclassified information across the government.

publications
See all publications
Nuclear Weapons
Blog
New Voices on Nuclear Weapons Fellowship: Creative Perspectives on Rethinking Nuclear Deterrence 

To empower new voices to start their career in nuclear weapons studies, the Federation of American Scientists launched the New Voices on Nuclear Weapons Fellowship. Here’s what our inaugural cohort accomplished.

11.28.23 | 3 min read
read more
Science Policy
Article
Expected Utility Forecasting for Science Funding

Common frameworks for evaluating proposals leave this utility function implicit, often evaluating aspects of risk, uncertainty, and potential value independently and qualitatively.

11.20.23 | 11 min read
read more
Nuclear Weapons
Report
Nuclear Notebook: Nuclear Weapons Sharing, 2023

The FAS Nuclear Notebook is one of the most widely sourced reference materials worldwide for reliable information about the status of nuclear weapons and has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: Director Hans […]

11.17.23 | 1 min read
read more
Social Innovation
Blog
Community School Approach Reaches High of 60%, Reports Latest Pulse Panel

According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ August 2023 pulse panel, 60% of public schools were utilizing a “community school” or “wraparound services model” at the start of this school year—up from 45% last year.

11.17.23 | 4 min read
read more