On September 14, the National Archives issued a final rule, “Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI),” establishing consistent practices and procedures for safeguarding, disseminating, controlling, and marking CUI across Executive Branch departments and agencies. It goes into effect November 13, 2016.

CUI is information that, while sensitive, does not meet the higher level of security restrictions needed to qualify as classified. The challenge of how to develop a consistent definition and handling directions for this material has dogged the federal government for decades. There are estimates that agencies use more than 100 different markings to designate CUI.

The new rule is an attempt to provide a uniform government-wide process for managing CUI by creating four broad categories. Here is a link to a summary of the CUI rule at www.lexology.com.

Executive Order 13556, established the CUI Program and designated the National Archives as its executive agent. The Archivist of the United States then assigned this responsibility to the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a component of the National Archives.