[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 999]
[Revised as of October 1, 1997]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR2]
[Page 20-21]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
Subtitle A--Office of the Secretary of the Interior
PART 2--RECORDS AND TESTIMONY; FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
Subpart C--Declassification of Classified Documents
Sec. 2.41 Declassification of classified documents.
(a) Request for classification review. (1) Requests for a
classification review of a document of the Department of the Interior
pursuant to section 5(c) of Executive Order 11652 (37 FR 5209, March 10,
1972) and section III B of the National Security Council Directive
Governing Classification, Downgrading, Declassification and Safeguarding
of National Security Information (37 FR 10053, May 1972) shall be made
in accordance with the procedures established by this section.
(2) Any person desiring a classification review of a document of the
Department of the Interior containing information classified as National
Security Information by reason of the provisions of Executive Order
12065 (or any predecessor executive order) and which is more than 10
years old, should address such request to the Chief, Division of
Enforcement and Security Management, Office of Administrative Services,
U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240.
(3) Requests need not be made on any special form, but shall, as
specified in the executive order, describe the document with sufficient
particularity to enable identification of the document requested with
expenditure of no more than a reasonable amount of effort.
(4) Charges for locating and reproducing copies of records will be
made when deemed applicable in accordance with appendix A to this part
and the requester will be notified.
(b) Action on requests for classification review. (1) The Chief,
Division of Enforcement and Security Management, shall, unless the
request is for a document over 30 years old, assign the request to the
bureau having custody of the requested records for action. In the case
of requests for declassification of records in the custody of the Office
of the Secretary and less than 30 years old, the request shall be
processed by the Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management.
Requests for declassification of documents over 30 years shall be
referred directly to the Archivist of the United States. The bureau
which has been assigned the request, or the Chief, Division of
Enforcement and Security Management, in the case of requests assigned to
him, shall immediately acknowledge the request in writing. Every effort
will be made to complete action on each request within thirty (30) days
of its receipt. If action cannot be completed within thirty (30) days,
the requester shall be so advised.
(2) If the requester does not receive a decision on his request
within sixty (60) days from the date of receipt of his request, or from
the date of his most recent response to a request for more particulars,
he may apply to the Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for
Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240, for a
decision on his request. The Committee must render a decision within
thirty (30) days.
(c) Form of decision and appeal to Oversight Committee for Security.
In the event that the bureau to which a request is assigned or the
Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management, in the case of a
request assigned to him, determines that the requested information must
remain classified by reason of the provisions of Executive Order 11652,
the requester shall be given prompt notification of that decision and,
whenever possible, shall be provided with a brief statement as to why
the information or material cannot be declassified. He shall also be
advised that if he desires he may appeal the determination to the
Chairman, Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for Security,
U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. An appeal shall
include a brief statement as to why the requester disagrees with the
decision which he is appealing. The Department Oversight Committee for
Security shall render its decision within thirty (30) days of receipt of
an appeal. The Departmental Committee shall be authorized to over-rule
previous determinations in whole or in part when, in its judgement,
continued protection is no longer required.
(d) Appeal to Interagency Classification Review Committee. Whenever
the Department of the Interior Oversight
[[Page 21]]
Committee for Security confirms a determination for continued
classification, it shall so notify the requester and advise him that he
is entitled to appeal the decision to the Interagency Classification
Review Committee established under section 8(A) of the Executive Order
11652. Such appeals shall be addressed to the Interagency Classification
Review Committee, the Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20500.
(e) Suggestions and complaints. Any person may also direct
suggestions or complaints with respect to the administration of the
other provisions of Executive Order 11652 and the NSC Directive by the
Department of the Interior to the Department of the Interior Oversight
Committee for Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC
20240.
[40 FR 7305, Feb. 19, 1975, as amended at 47 FR 38327, Aug. 31, 1982]