[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 22, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 22CFR171.21]



[Page 757-759]

 

                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS

 

                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE

 

PART 171_AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS TO THE PUBLIC--Table 

of Contents

 

               Subpart C_Executive Order 12958 Provisions

 

Sec.  171.21  Declassification review.



    (a) Scope. All information classified under E.O. 12958 or 

predecessor orders



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shall be subject to declassification review upon request by a member of 

the public or a U.S. government employee or agency with the following 

exceptions:

    (1) Information originated by the incumbent President or, in the 

performance of executive duties, the incumbent Vice President; the 

incumbent President's White House staff or, in the performance of 

executive duties, the incumbent Vice President's staff; committees, 

commissions, or boards appointed by the incumbent President; other 

entities within the Executive Office of the President that solely advise 

and assist the incumbent President;

    (2) Information that is the subject of litigation;

    (3) Information that has been reviewed for declassification within 

the past two years; and

    (4) Information exempted from search and review under the Central 

Intelligence Agency Information Act.

    (b) Requests. Requests for mandatory declassification review should 

be addressed to the Information and Privacy Coordinator at the address 

given in Sec. 171.5. E-mail requests are not accepted at this time.

    (c) Mandatory declassification review and the FOIA. A mandatory 

declassification review request is separate and distinct from a request 

for records under the FOIA. When a requester submits a request under 

both mandatory declassification review and the FOIA, the Department 

shall require the requester to elect review under one process or the 

other. If the requester fails to make such election, the request will be 

under the process that would result in the greatest disclosure unless 

the information requested is subject to only mandatory declassification 

review.

    (d) Description of information sought. In order to be processed, a 

request for declassification review must describe the document or the 

material containing the information sought with sufficient specificity 

to enable the Department to locate the document or material with a 

reasonable amount of effort. Whenever a request does not sufficiently 

describe the material, the Department shall notify the requester that no 

further action will be taken unless additional description of the 

information sought is provided.

    (e) Refusal to confirm or deny existence of information. The 

Department may refuse to confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence 

of requested information whenever the fact of existence or nonexistence 

is itself classified.

    (f) Processing. In responding to mandatory declassification review 

requests, the Department shall make a review determination as promptly 

as possible and notify the requester accordingly. When the requested 

information cannot be declassified in its entirety, the Department shall 

release all meaningful portions that can be declassified and that are 

not exempt from disclosure on other grounds (see Sec.  171.25).

    (g) Other agency information. When the Department receives a request 

for information in its possession that was originally classified by 

another agency, it shall refer the request and the pertinent information 

to the other agency for processing unless that agency has agreed that 

the Department may review such information for declassification on 

behalf of that agency. The Department may, after consultation with the 

other agency, inform the requester of the referral unless association of 

the other agency with the information is itself classified.

    (h) Foreign government information. In the case of a request for 

material containing foreign government information, the Department, if 

it is also the agency that initially received the foreign government 

information, shall determine whether the information may be declassified 

and may, if appropriate, consult with the relevant foreign government on 

that issue. If the Department is not the agency that initially received 

the foreign government information, it shall refer the request to the 

original receiving agency for direct response to the requester.

    (i) Cryptologic and intelligence information. Mandatory 

declassification review requests for cryptologic information shall be 

processed in accordance with special procedures established by the 

Secretary of Defense, and such requests for information concerning 

intelligence activities or intelligence sources and



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methods shall be processed in accordance with special procedures 

established by the Director of Central Intelligence.