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MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
FROM: ANDREW
H. CARD, JR.
Assistant to the President
and Chief of Staff
SUBJECT:
Action to Safeguard Information Regarding Weapons of Mass
Destruction and
Other Sensitive Documents Related to Homeland
  Security
MEMORANDUM FOR DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
FROM: LAURA
L.S. KIMBERLY
Acting Director
Information Security
Oversight Office
RICHARD L. HUFF
DANIEL J. METCALFE
Co-Directors
Office of Information
and Privacy
Department of Justice
SUBJECT:
Safeguarding Information Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction
and Other Sensitive
Records Related to Homeland Security
I. Classified Information
If the information currently is classified and is equal to or less than 25 years old, it should remain classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, Sec. 1.5 and Sec. 1.6. Although classified information generally must be declassified within 10 years of its original classification, classification or reclassification may be extended for up to 25 years in the case of information that could reasonably be expected to "reveal information that would assist in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction." Id., Sec. 1.6(d)(2).
If the information is more than 25 years old and is still classified, it should remain classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, Sec. 3.4(b)(2), which authorizes agency heads to exempt from automatic declassification any "specific information, the release of which should be expected to
. . . reveal information that would assist in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction." (Agencies should note that the automatic declassification date for any classified information over 25 years old that involves the equities of more than one agency was extended until April 2003 by Executive Order 13142. Agencies have until then to exempt such information from automatic declassification under any one of the pertinent exemption categories in Executive Order 12958, Sec. 3.4(b).)In this regard, agencies should note that Department of Defense (DOD) information that involves the equities of more than one DOD component is considered to have multi-agency equities. Information maintained by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) or the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) also is deemed to have multi-agency equities, i.e., those pertaining to DTIC or NARA and those pertaining to the component agency or agencies that created the information.
II. Previously Unclassified or Declassified Information
If the information, regardless of age, never was classified and never was disclosed to the public under proper authority, but it could reasonably be expected to assist in the development or use of weapons of mass destruction, it should be classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, Part 1, subject to the provisions of Sec. 1.8(d) if the information has been the subject of an access demand (or Sec 6.1(a) if the information concerns nuclear or radiological weapons).
If such sensitive information, regardless of age, was classified and subsequently was declassified, but it never was disclosed to the public under proper authority, it should be reclassified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, Part 1, subject to the provisions of Sec. 1.8(d) if the information has been the subject of an access demand (or Sec 6.1(a) if the information concerns nuclear or radiological weapons).
III. Sensitive But Unclassified Information
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