[Infowarrior] - DOJ Report: Controlled Unclassified Information

[Richard Forno]

WOW.  There's 117 "unclassified" monikers in the USG according to  
today's White House report on unclassified information.   The last  
number I heard was fifty-something.   Unbelievable!

The report can be found online at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cui_task_force_rpt.pdf

Press Release follows:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-ag-1341.html

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Presidential Task Force on Controlled Unclassified Information  
Releases Report and Recommendations
WASHINGTON— Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland  
Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced two major  
steps in their efforts to implement reforms to enhance information  
sharing among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement  
agencies and safeguard sensitive information used by the government— 
designed to expand joint capabilities to protect the United States  
from terrorist activity, violent crime and other threats to the  
homeland.

The Presidential Interagency Task Force on Controlled Unclassified  
Information (CUI), led by Attorney General Holder and Secretary  
Napolitano, today released a report recommending a single,  
standardized framework for marking, safeguarding and disseminating  
sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information across the federal  
government. SBU information refers collectively to the various  
designations for documents and information that are sufficiently  
sensitive to warrant some level of protection but that do not meet the  
standards for classification.

Attorney General Holder and Secretary Napolitano also announced the  
creation of dual Program Management Offices (PMOs) to coordinate  
support for state and local Fusion Centers and the Nationwide  
Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI), housed within DHS and  
the Department of Justice (DOJ), respectively, to work in partnership  
to enhance information sharing between federal, state, local and  
tribal agencies and the private sector. Coupled with the CUI  
framework, these new offices represent a significant milestone toward  
fully implementing information sharing reforms called for following  
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Our recommendations will allow the federal government to be more open  
and transparent while still meeting our first priority of keeping the  
American people safe," said Attorney General Holder. "By streamlining  
and modernizing the system for designating, marking and handling  
sensitive information, we can achieve the appropriate balance between  
the public’s right to access information and the government's  
imperative to maintain the security and privacy of all Americans."

"Our review of policies and procedures for access to and sharing of  
sensitive but unclassified information across the U.S. Government  
revealed a need for a more open, standardized approach," said  
Secretary Napolitano. "The task force recommendations, coupled with  
newly-dedicated federal-wide resources to support Fusion Centers, will  
improve information sharing, transparency and engagement with our  
partners in state and local law enforcement as we work together to  
combat terrorism, violent crime and other dangerous threats to the  
homeland."

Both announcements reflect the Obama administration’s commitment to  
improving the ability of federal state, local and tribal governments  
as well as the private sector to gather, analyze, share and utilize  
information in order to protect communities from violent crime  
including terrorism, while protecting the privacy and civil rights of  
Americans.

The Task Force report proposes 40 actions intended to mitigate current  
inconsistencies among SBU information policies in federal agencies by  
simplifying and consolidating procedures—intended to enhance  
standardization, information sharing, government transparency, and  
protection of information only where there is a compelling requirement  
to do so. The recommendations also seek to balance the imperatives of  
protecting legitimate security, law enforcement, privacy and civil  
liberties interests.

The Task Force was directed to review the ongoing efforts of the CUI  
Council, which was established by a 2008 Presidential Memorandum, and  
its ongoing efforts to establish a CUI Framework for terrorism-related  
information. One significant recommendation in the report would expand  
the scope of the CUI Framework to the designation, marking,  
safeguarding and dissemination of all SBU information.

The new PMOs will work jointly to provide sustained funding and  
personnel support to 72 state and local Fusion Centers nationwide and  
provide training and resources to frontline law enforcement officials  
to better document activities possibly linked to terrorism through  
NSI, a DHS-DOJ collaboration designed to detect, analyze and share  
intelligence about suspicious behavior and other indicators while  
protecting privacy and civil liberties.

The Fusion Center and NSI PMOs will establish strong cross-linkages,  
including the exchange of senior-level specialists and management  
personnel, and joint program performance measures in order to ensure  
efficient oversight and coordination of current initiatives and  
successfully facilitate ongoing efforts to build and develop the  
Information Sharing Environment.

State and major urban area Fusion Centers help fulfill key  
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission by providing critical links for  
information sharing between and across all levels of government. NSI  
operates in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the  
International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major City Chiefs,  
Major County Sheriffs, and other state, local and tribal partners to  
gather, blend and analyze information gathered from local law  
enforcement about suspicious activity.

There are more than 100 different SBU markings and handling procedures  
currently in use across the federal government. The report recommends  
that all SBU markings be replaced with one, simplified set of markings 
—"CUI"—which will be standardized under the CUI Framework. Additional  
recommendations include simplifying the definition of CUI; clarifying  
that CUI markings have no bearing on releases either under the Freedom  
of Information Act or to Congress; and phasing in implementation of  
the expanded scope of the CUI Framework.

President Obama initiated the review on May 27 with a Presidential  
Memorandum directing Attorney General Holder and Secretary Napolitano  
to lead a 90-day review of current procedures for categorizing and  
sharing SBU information. If implemented, the recommendations would  
revise the 2008 Presidential Memorandum that established the CUI  
Framework for handling and disseminating CUI information.

The Task Force, which involved senior representatives from 12 federal  
agencies, met with representatives both within and outside the  
information sharing environment; state, local and tribal partners;  
privacy and open government organizations; and members of Congress.  
The Task Force also analyzed previous studies of SBU and the efforts  
of the CUI Council.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov or www.justice.gov. The report  
can be found online at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cui_task_force_rpt.pdf