Press Release
Press Release · Wednesday, November 28, 2001

The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) now has available copies of its Report to the President for 2000. Established in 1978, ISOO is responsible to the President for overseeing the government-wide security classification program, and receives policy and program guidance from the National Security Council. ISOO has been a component of the National Archives and Records Administration since 1995.

The Report profiles data about the government-wide security classification program, primarily during Fiscal Year 2000. In his transmittal letter to the President included in the Report, ISOO Director Steven Garfinkel notes:

"In the declassification program, agencies of the executive branch reported declassifying almost 75 million pages of records having permanent historical value. Combined with figures reported in the first four years of the Order's implementation, the executive branch has declassified almost 795 million pages of records since October 1995. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, particularly given the increasing obstacles that the agencies must face to declassify records. The hundreds of millions of pages declassified under this Order will provide researchers and historians with information that will help write our nation's history for years to come."

In addition to the data regarding declassification, highlights of the Report also include:

• Data on the number of authorized classifiers: The Report notes that the number of authorized original classifiers throughout the executive branch increased by 284 to 4,130.
• Data on the number of new classification decisions: The Report notes that original classification decisions increased by 30% from the number reported for FY 1999. Derivative classification also increased and in his letter to the President, the ISOO Director states:
"[T]he FY 2000 data for derivative classification activity showed a dramatic increase from FY 1999. The increase is not a result of new programs. We believe the primary factor responsible for this dramatic increase is the rapidly expanding electronic environment. Today, information once exchanged in millions of secure telephone conversations that clearly were not counted as classification decisions is now being relayed through secure e-mail which is electronically tabulated and counted as classification decisions. . . ."
• Data on the estimated costs of the classification program: The Report notes that the total estimated costs of the security classification increased $200,000 million from the estimated costs for FY 1999. ISOO also comments on industry's decrease in cost estimates which appears to be the middle ground when compared to previous years' reporting.
• Data on the actions of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP): In addition to other information, the Report notes that the ISCAP approved declassification guides for CIA and DIA.

Copies of the Report may be picked up in ISOO's offices in Room 100 of the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20408, or by contacting ISOO: telephone, (202) 219-5250; FAX, (202) 219-5385; or e-mail, isoo@nara.gov.Copies of ISOO Reports to the President from prior years are also available.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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