On January 13, 2009, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) released its Report to the President for Fiscal Year 2008 providing data about the Government-wide security classification program. The Report is accessible on the ISOO website (click here).

Highlights of the report include:

Classification:

• Executive branch agencies reported 4,109 original classification authorities.
• Agencies reported using the ten-year-or-less declassification instruction for 58 percent of original classification decisions.
• Executive branch agencies reported 23,217,557 derivative classification decisions.
• Agencies reported 23,421,098 combined classification decisions.
• Sixty-seven percent of the classification guides reported as being currently in use had not been updated within the past five years as required by E.O. 12958, as amended.

Declassification:

• Under automatic declassification and systematic declassification review, agencies declassified 31,443,552 pages of historically valuable records.
• There are an estimated 51 million pages of records containing the equities of multiple agencies that require review by December 31, 2009. ISOO is not confident agencies will meet this deadline.
• Agencies received 8,264 initial mandatory declassification review requests, the highest ever reported.
• Under mandatory review, agencies declassified 190,291 pages in their entirety, declassified 50,219 pages in part, and retained classification of 20,774 pages in their entirety.
• Agencies reported carrying over 5,843 initial mandatory declassification review requests into FY 2009.
• Agencies received 196 mandatory declassification review appeals and processed 178 appeals, the largest number of appeals processed in a single fiscal year.
• On appeal, agencies declassified 1,189 pages in their entirety, 1,501 pages in part, and retained classification of 3,782 pages in their entirety.

Hard copies of the Report will be available within the next two months. Write: ISOO, Room 100, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20408-0001; telephone, 202-357-5250; fax, 202-357-5907; or e-mail, isoo@nara.gov

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. ISOO Reports to the President from prior years are available at the ISOO website.