Information Classification

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Proposal:

The government shall form a classification review panel which will be comprised of members with the highest security clearance who are trusted to review and safeguard all classified information they encounter and to make sound judgements regarding classification disputes.

Members of the classification review panel shall take an oath to safeguard the information they receive for review and to place national security and democracy above any individual, even the chiefs of the branches of the federal government.

Any person with security clearance who encounters classified information which appears to be improperly classified has a duty and responsibility to forward that classified information and a brief description of the perceived impropriety to the classification review panel.

Information that is classified for the purpose of hiding hiding unlawful activity or hiding embarrassing information about a government official or contractor is improperly classified. Officials, employees, and contractors of all branches of government have a duty and responsibility to act lawfully and ethically.

The classification review panel shall safeguard the identity of submitters to prevent retaliation by officials who improperly classified information and submitters shall be protected by all rights and laws applying to whistleblowers. However, sharing of information with the panel is authorized for all clearance holders and shall be considered a routine and important duty of all clearance holders.

Intent:

To establish a mechanism to review improperly classified information so that clearance holders who come into contact with improperly classified information can forward it to an appropriate authority for review without fear of retribution and without fear of legal or ethical conflicts.

Discussion:

Government must generally be transparent about what it’s doing.

Secrets are only appropriate when they are necessary for national security. However, because of the potential of abuse of this to hide embarrassing information, there must be a classification review and dispute procedure.

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