[Infowarrior] - USG has 56 different "sensitive but unclassified" ratings

[Richard Forno]

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d06385.html

GAO-06-385 
The Federal Government Needs to Establish Policies and Processes for Sharing
Terrorism-Related and Sensitive but Unclassified Information
March 2006

Federal agencies report that they are using a total of 56 different
designations for information they determined is sensitive but
unclassified, and agencies that account for a large percentage of the
homeland security budget reported using most of these designations.22
There are no governmentwide policies or procedures that describe the
basis on which agencies should designate, mark, and handle this
information. In this absence, the agency determines what designations to
apply to its sensitive but unclassified information. Such inconsistency can
lead to challenges in information sharing. In fact, more than half of the
agencies reported encountering challenges in sharing sensitive but
unclassified information. Furthermore, most agencies do not determine
who and how many employees can make such designations, provide them
training on how to do so, or perform periodic reviews of how well their
practices are working, nor are there governmentwide policies that require
such internal control practices. By not providing guidance and monitoring,
there is a probability that the designation will be misapplied, potentially
restricting material unnecessarily or resulting in dissemination of
information that should be restricted.

< snip >

Table 2: Sensitive but Unclassified Designations in Use at Selected Federal
Agencies 

Designation Agencies using designation
1 Applied Technology *Department of Energy (DOE)
2 Attorney-Client Privilege Department of Commerce (Commerce), *DOE
3 Business Confidential *DOE
4 Budgetary Information Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
5 Census Confidential Commerce
6 Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act Information (CIPSEA) Social Security Administration (SSA)
7 Computer Security Act Sensitive Information (CSASI)  Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
8 Confidential  Department of Labor
9 Confidential Business Information (CBI) Commerce, EPA
10 Contractor Access Restricted Information (CARI) HHS
11 Copyrighted Information *DOE
12 Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII)  Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC)
13 Critical Infrastructure Information Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
14 DEA Sensitive Department of Justice (DOJ)
15 DOD Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information Department of Defense
(DOD) 
16 Draft EPA 
17 Export Controlled Information *DOE
18 For Official Use Only (FOUO) Commerce, DOD, Department of Education, EPA,
General 
Services Administration, HHS, DHS, Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), DOJ, Labor, OPM, SSA, and the
Department of Transportation (DOT)
19 For Official Use Only‹Law Enforcement Sensitive DOD
20 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)  EPA
21 Government Confidential Commercial Information *DOE
22 High-Temperature Superconductivity Pilot Center
Information *DOE 
23 In Confidence *DOE
24 Intellectual Property *DOE
25 Law Enforcement Sensitive Commerce, EPA, DHS, DOJ, HHS, Labor, OPM
26 Law Enforcement Sensitive/Sensitive DOJ
27 Limited Distribution Information DOD
28 Limited Official Use (LOU) DHS, DOJ, Department of Treasury
29 Medical records  EPA
30 Non-Public Information FERC
31 Not Available National Technical Information Service  Commerce
32 Official Use Only (OUO) DOE, SSA, Treasury
33 Operations Security Protected Information (OSPI) HHS
34 Patent Sensitive Information *DOE
35 Predecisional Draft *DOE
36 Privacy Act Information *DOE, EPA
37 Privacy Act Protected Information (PAPI) HHS
38 Proprietary Information *DOE, DOJ
39 Protected Battery Information *DOE
40 Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII)  DHS
41 Safeguards Information Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
42 Select Agent Sensitive Information (SASI) HHS
43 Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) Commerce, HHS, NASA, National Science
Foundation (NSF), Department of State, U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID)
44 Sensitive Drinking Water Related Information (SDWRI) EPA
45 Sensitive Information DOD, U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
46 Sensitive Instruction SSA
47 Sensitive Internal Use *DOE
48 Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information NRC
49 Sensitive Nuclear Technology *DOE
50 Sensitive Security Information (SSI) DHS, DOT, U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) 
51 Sensitive Water Vulnerability Assessment Information EPA
52 Small Business Innovative Research Information *DOE
53 Technical Information DOD
54 Trade Sensitive Information Commerce
55 Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information (UCNI) DOE
56 Unclassified National Security-Related
*DOE