OMB Receives DHS Rule on Classified Information

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received from DHS a copy of their proposed final rule on classified national security information. According to the information in the most recent Unified Agenda the purpose of this rule is:

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is revising its procedures for managing classified national security information. DHS is updating its regulations to incorporate new and revised procedures pursuant to Executive Order 13526, ‘Classified National Security Information.’ Further, DHS is delegating to the Chief Security Officer of DHS the responsibility of serving as the "Senior Agency Official" pursuant to Executive Order 13526.”

It will be interesting to see the justification for going directly to a final rule without publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking.

The EO referenced dates back to 2009 so this is another real quick response to an executive order.

My guess is that this rule will not have a great deal of effect on most folks outside of DHS since most organizations are not set up to received classified information from DHS. Probably the most affected organizations outside of DHS proper will be the various fusion centers around the country.

There is no telling how long it will take OMB to approve this rule. I would be surprised if we see any action before the end of the year.

OMB Receives Declassification Final Rule

Yesterday the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that it had received for review the final rule for Declassification of National Security Information from the National Archives and Records Administration. This rule would implement changes to the National Security Information declassification processes mandated by §3.7 of EO 13526.

Actually, I think that this OMB announcement may be in error, I believe that this was the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) not the final rule that was submitted. According to the Spring 2011 Unified Agenda the NPRM was supposed to have been published in June, but I can find no record on the RegInfo.gov web site that it was.

This rule may be of interest to the chemical security community because of its derivative impact on DHS implementation of EO 13549 (Classified National Security Information Program for State, Local, Tribal, and Private Sector Entities [including fusion centers]) and potentially the sharing of intelligence information with the chemical security community.

OMB Announces Conditional Approval of Declassification Rules

Yesterday the OMB web site included the announcement that the draft of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) to update its regulations on the declassification of classified documents. The OMB approval is ‘consistent with change’ meaning that OMB has asked for some changes in the NPRM.


The NPRM will implement changes to the handling of classified information mandated by President’ Executive Order 13526.

This rule will not directly affect the CFATS program because the Chemical-Terrorism Vulnerability Information (CVI) program is not ‘classified information’. The philosophy guiding the development of this rule, however, may be expected to carry over to future regulations on CVI, and other unclassified but sensitive information control programs.