[Osint] DHS Now Has Non-Disclosure Agreement For *Un*classified Info

[R.A. Hettinga]

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To: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft at community-research.com>
Thread-Index: AcTLBDc4vJyL80TwSZuIiwn1AOddIQACB0Zg
From: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft at community-research.com>
Mailing-List: list osint at yahoogroups.com; contact osint-owner at yahoogroups.com
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:13:19 -0500
Subject: [osint] A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT FOR UNCLASSIFIED INFO]
Reply-To: osint at yahoogroups.com



 A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT FOR UNCLASSIFIED INFO

 In a momentous expansion of the apparatus of government secrecy, the
 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is requiring employees and
 others to sign legally binding non-disclosure agreements as a
 condition of access to certain categories of unclassified information.

 Up to now, non-disclosure agreements have only been used by
 government agencies to regulate access to classified information. In
 fact, they are one of the defining features of the national security
 classification system, along with security clearances and the "need
 to know" principle. As far as Secrecy News could determine, such
 classification-like controls have never before been systematically
 imposed on access to unclassified information.

 But now at DHS a non-disclosure agreement must be executed in order
 to gain access to any one of a panoply of new and existing categories
 of unclassified information, including:

 "For Official Use Only (FOUO); Official Use Only (OUO); Sensitive
 Homeland Security Information (SHSI); Limited Official Use (LOU); Law
 Enforcement Sensitive (LES); Safeguarding Information (SGI);
 Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information (UCNI); and any other
 identifier used by other government agencies to categorize
 information as sensitive but unclassified."

 The proliferation of controls on unclassified information signifies a
 massive increase in government secrecy, particularly since the number
 of officials who are authorized to designate information in one of
 these categories dwarfs the number of officials who can create
 classified information.

 And while the classification system operates according to certain
 well-defined rules and limitations, including procedures for review
 and challenge of classification decisions, the same is not true of
 the "sensitive but unclassified" domain. Furthermore, there is
 nothing like the Information Security Oversight Office to monitor and
 oversee the restriction of unclassified information.

 (Some types of sensitive but unclassified information are not
 specifically protected by statute and can still be successfully
 requested under the Freedom of Information Act. But with Justice
 Department encouragement, agencies take an expansive view of the
 scope of the Act's exemptions and access is increasingly uncertain.)

 The DHS non-disclosure agreement is apparently the first such
 document crafted in the Bush Administration. It represents a new high
 water mark in the rising tide of official secrecy.

 A copy of DHS Form 11000-6, Non-Disclosure Agreement for Sensitive
 But Unclassified Information, dated August 2004, was obtained by
 Secrecy News and is posted here:

 http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dhs-nda.pdf








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-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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