Dear Venkatesh! Here is the information from Slovenia. You can find all relevant data on the website of Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information.
http://www.uvtp.gov.si/en/ Kind regards, Nata?a (Embedded image moved to file: pic28050.jpg) "Venkatesh Nayak" <venkatesh at humanr ightsinitiative.o To rg> "'Meredith Fuchs'" <mfuchs at gwu.edu> Sent by: cc foianet-bounces at f foianet at foiadvocates.info oiadvocates.info Subject Re: [foianet] request for information on guidelines for 15.12.2009 05:28 classifying and maintaining classified documents Dear Meredith, Many thanks for this advice and these links. These are really very helpful. As our current leadership looks to the US for inpsiration in almost all policy matters surely emulating openness regards policy on classifying government documents may not hurt. I owe you one too. Please let me know if you need any research assistance from India or about any Commonwealth country and I will do my best to help. Regards Venkat -----Original Message----- From: Meredith Fuchs [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 6:48 PM To: Venkatesh Nayak Cc: foianet at foiadvocates.info Subject: Re: [foianet] request for information on guidelines for classifying and maintaining classified documents I apologize for not responding sooner, and I hope this will still be useful. In the US, there is an executive order issued by the president that governs national security classification. The EO sets forth the specific categories that qualify for national security classification and the rules that apply (duration of classification, etc.) http://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-amendment.html There also is an implementing directive issued by an office called the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO). http://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-implementing-directiv e.html ISOO also issues guidance on how to mark documents and can address disputes about classification. http://www.archives.gov/isoo/notices/ There is a lot of information on it at their website: http://www.archives.gov/isoo In addition to these broad framework materials, each agency -- and often individual components within agencies -- issue classification guides. There are, reportedly, hundreds of such guides. These guides apply the EO to the agencies' own types of holdings. For example, the guide might say that a certain program or codeword or technology is protected and describe how it is protected. We have asked for such guides under FOIA and have been provided with a few. Others have been denied because the guide itself contains classified information. Please let me know if you are looking for additional or different information. Meredith Fuchs General Counsel, National Security Archive George Washington University Gelman Library Suite 701 2130 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 202-994-7000 / 202-994-7059 (direct) mfuchs at gwu.edu Visit our website at: http://www.NSArchive.org Find us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBArchive Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NSArchive ----- Original Message ----- From: Venkatesh Nayak <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 1:51 am Subject: [foianet] request for information on guidelines for classifying and maintaining classified documents To: foianet at foiadvocates.info > Dear friends, > I am litigating before India's Central Information Commission for the > disclosure of the Manual of Departmental Security Instructions which > contains the criteria and process for classifying documents 'secret', > 'top secret', 'confidential' and 'restricted'. This manual is commonly > used across the federal and provincial governments since 1965. But the > manual istelf is a confidential document and is not accessible in the > public domain despite a requirement of proactive disclosure of all > manuals and instructions used by a public authority. I have argued > that rules, procedures and executive instructions cannot be kept > secret. The public authority in charge of issuing such instructions is > arguing that disclosure will amount to revealing 'strategy' of the > government to keep things secret in the public interest. I have argued > that rules and instructions ordinarily do not constitute 'strategy' as > they are commonly used across departments. > Strategy is unique to tackling a specific case or problem. The public > authority is also agruing that nowehere in the world are such > instructions made public. I do not think that is true. > I have the theoretical arguments in support of disclosure but I also > need to a few examples of international practice. I would be grateful > if you could send me the links to the English version of rules and > procedures that govern classification of documents in your countries. > Please treat this as an urgent request as I have only 6 days to file > my rejoinder. > regards > Venkatesh > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: pic28050.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 37528 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://lists.foiadvocates.info/private.cgi/foianet-foiadvocates.info/attachments/20091215/e6c40d5d/attachment-0001.jpg>
