NARA Sends CUI NPRM to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs announced that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had submitted a draft of its notice of proposed rulemaking for the establishment of its Controlled Unclassified Information program. The requirements for this long overdue rulemaking were set forth in EO 13556, Controlled Unclassified Information.

According to the latest Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking (RIN: 3095-AB80) that EO established “an open and uniform program for managing information requiring safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with law, regulations, and Government-wide policies, excluding information that is classified under Executive Order 13526, or the Atomic Energy Act, as amended”.

The only details we have available about this proposed rulemaking at this date also come from that entry in the Unified Agenda. It notes that the NPRM would provide “guidance to agencies on safeguarding, disseminating, marking, and decontrolling CUI, self-inspection and oversight requirements, and other facets of the program”.

As I have noted in earlier posts on this EO this NPRM could potentially affect a number of chemical security related programs including CFATS (CVI), transportation security (SSI), and voluntary security information submissions to the government (PCII).

There is no telling how long it will take this rulemaking to percolate through OIRA. It is supposed to take just a couple of months, but in practice it can take years depending on the perceived political consequences of the rulemaking. Given the length of time that it has taken NARA to craft the NPRM, I expect this will be a lengthy process.