This material contains information affecting the national defense of the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18, U.S.C., Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.

Use of alternative marking concerning "Restricted Data" as defined by the Atomic Energy Act is authorized when appropriate.

SEC. 6. Custody and Safekeeping. The possession or use of classified defense information or material shall be limited to locations where facilities for secure storage or protection thereof are available by means of which unauthorized persons are prevented from gaining access thereto. Whenever such information or material is not under the personal supervision of its custodian, whether during or outside of working hours, the following physical or mechanical means shall be taken to protect it:

(a) Storage of Top Secret Material. Top Secret defense material shall be protected in storage by the most secure facilities possible. Normally it will be stored in a safe or a safe-type steel file container having a three-position, dial-type, combination lock, and being of such weight, size, construction, or installation as to minimize the possibility of surreptitious entry, physical theft, damage by fire, or tampering. The head of a department or agency may approve other storage facilities for this material which offer comparable or better protection, such as an alarmed area, a vault, a secure vaulttype room, or an area under close surveillance of an armed guard.

(b) Secret and Confidential Material. These categories of defense material may be stored in a manner authorized for Top Secret material, or in metal file cabinets equipped with steel lockbar and an approved three combination dial-type padlock from which the manufacturer's identification numbers have been obliterated, or in comparably secure facilities approved by the head of the department or agency.

(c) Other Classified Material. Heads of departments and agencies shall prescribe such protective facilities as may be necessary in their departments or agencies for material originating under statutory provisions requiring protection of certain information.

(d) Changes of Lock Combinations. Combinations on locks of safekeeping equipment shall be changed, only by persons having appropriate security clearance, whenever such equipment is placed in use after procurement from the manufacturer or other sources, whenever a person knowing the combination is transferred from the office to which the equipment is assigned, or whenever the combination has been subjected to compromise, and at least once every year. Knowledge of combinations shall be limited to the minimum number of persons necessary for operating purposes. Records of combinations shall be classified no lower than the highest category of classified defense material authorized for storage in the safekeeping equipment concerned.

(e) Custodian's Responsibilities. Custodians of classified defense material shall be responsible for providing the best possible protection and accountability for such material at all times and particularly for security locking classified material in approved safekeeping equipment whenever it is not in use or under direct supervision of authorized employees. Custodians shall follow procedures which insure that unauthorized persons do not gain access to classified defense information or material by sight or sound, and classified information shall not be discussed with or in the presence of unauthorized persons.

(f) Telephone Conversations. Defense information classified in the three categories under the provisions of this order shall not be revealed in telephone conversations, except as may be authorized under section 8 hereof with respect to the transmission of Secret and Confidential material over certain military communications circuits.

(g) Loss or Subjection to Compromise. Any person in the executive branch who has knowledge of the loss or possible subjection to compromise of classified defense information shall promptly report the circumstances to a designated official of his agency, and the latter shall take appropriate action forthwith, including advice to the originating department or agency.

SEC. 7. Accountability and Dissemination. Knowledge or possession of classified defense information shall be permitted only to persons whose official duties require such access in the interest of promoting national

defense and only if they have been determined to be trustworthy. Proper control of dissemination of classified defense information shall be maintained at all times, including good accountability records of classified defense information documents, and severe limitation on the number of such documents originated as well as the number of copies thereof reproduced. The number of copies of classified defense information documents shall be kept to a minimum to decrease the risk of compromise of the information contained in such documents and the financial burden on the Government in protecting such documents. The following special rules shall be observed in connection with accountability for and dissemination of defense information or material: (a) Accountability Procedures. Heads of departments and agencies shall prescribe such accountability procedures as are necessary to control effectively the dissemination of classified defense information, with particularly severe control on material classified. Top Secret under this order. Top Secret Control Officers shall be designated, as required, to receive, maintain accountability registers of, and dispatch Top Secret material.

(b) Dissemination Outside the Executive Branch. Classified defense information shall not be disseminated outside the executive branch except under conditions and through channels authorized by the head of the disseminating department or agency, even though the person or agency to which dissemination of such information is proposed to be made may have been solely or partly responsible for its production.

(c) Information Originating in Another Department or Agency. Except as otherwise provided by section 102 of the National Security Act of July 26, 1947, c. 343, 61 Stat. 498, as amended, 50 U.S.C. sec. 403, classified defense information originating in another department or agency shall not be disseminated outside the receiving department or agency without the consent of the originating department or agency. Documents and material containing defense information which are classified Top Secret or Secret shall not be reproduced without the consent of the originating department or agency.

SEC. 8. Transmission. For transmission outside of a department or agency, classified defense material of the three categories originated under the provisions of this order shall be prepared and transmitted as follows:

(a) Preparation for Transmission. Such material shall be enclosed in opaque inner and outer covers. The inner cover shall be a sealed wrapper or envelope plainly marked with the assigned classification and address. The outer cover shall be sealed and addressed with no indication of its contents. A receipt form shall be attached to or enclosed in the inner cover, except that Confidential material shall require a receipt only if the sender deems it necessary. The receipt form shall identify the addressor, addressee, and the document, but shall contain no classified information. It shall be signed by the proper recipient and returned to the sender.

(b) Transmitting Top Secret Material. The transmission of Top Secret material shall be effected preferably by direct contact of officials concerned, or, alternatively, by specifically designated personnel, by State Department diplomatic pouch, by a messenger-courier system especially created for that purpose, or by electric means in encrypted form; or in the case of information transmitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, such means of transmission may be used as are currently approved by the Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, unless express reservation to the contrary is made in exceptional cases by the originating agency.

(c) Transmitting Secret Material. Secret material shall be transmitted within the continental United States by one of the means established for Top Secret material, by an authorized courier, by United States registered mail, or by protected commercial express, air or surface. Secret material may be transmitted outside the continental limits of the United States by one of the means established for Top Secret material, by commanders or masters of vessels of United States registry, or by United States Post Office registered mail through Army, Navy, or Air Force postal facilities, provided that the material does not at any time pass out of United States Government control and does not pass through a foreign postal system. Secret material may, however, be transmitted, between United States Government and/or Canadian Government installations in continental United States,

Canada, and Alaska by United States and Canadian registered mail with registered mail receipt. In an emergency, Secret material may also be transmitted over military communications circuits in accordance with regulations promulgated for such purpose by the Secretary of Defense.

(d) Transmitting Confidential Material. Confidential defense material shall be transmitted within the United States by one of the means established for higher classifications, by registered mail or by express or freight under such specific conditions as may be prescribed by the head of the department or agency concerned. Outside the continental United States, Confidential defense material shall be transmitted in the same manner as authorized for higher classifications.

(e) Within an Agency. Preparation of classified defense material for transmission, and transmission of it, within a department or agency shall be governed by regulations, issued by the head of the department or agency, insuring a degree of security equivalent to that outlined above for transmission outside a department or agency.

SEC. 9. Disposal and Destruction. Documentary record material made or received by a department or agency in connection with transaction of public business and preserved as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, operations, decisions, procedures or other activities of any department or agency of the Government, or because of the informational value of the data contained therein, may be destroyed only in accordance with the act of July 7, 1943, c. 192, 57 Stat. 380, as amended, 44 U.S.C. 366-380. Nonrecord classified material, consisting of extra copies and duplicates including shorthand notes, preliminary drafts, used carbon paper, and other material of similar temporary nature, may be destroyed, under procedures established by the head of the department or agency which meet the following requirements, as soon as it has served its purpose:

(a) Methods of Destruction. Classified defense material shall be destroyed by burning in the presence of an appropriate official or by other methods authorized by the head of an agency provided the resulting destruction is equally complete.

(b) Records of Destruction. Appropriate accountability records maintained in the department or agency shall reflect the destruction of classified defense material.

SEC. 10. Orientation and Inspection. To promote the basic purposes of this order, heads of those departments and agencies originating or handling classified defense information shall designate experienced persons to coordinate and supervise the activities applicable to their departments or agencies under this order. Persons so designated shall maintain active training and orientation programs for employees concerned with classified defense information to impress each such employee with his individual responsibility for exercising vigilance and care in complying with the provisions of this order. Such persons shall be authorized on behalf of the heads of the departments and agencies to establish adequate and active inspection programs to the end that the provisions of this order are administered effectively.

SEC. 11. Interpretation of Regulations by the Attorney General. The Attorney General, upon request of the head of a department or agency or his duly designated representative, shall personally or through authorized representatives of the Department of Justice render an interpretation of these regulations in connection with any problems arising out of their administration.

SEC. 12. Statutory Requirements. Nothing in this order shall be construed to authorize the dissemination, handling or transmission of classified information contrary to the provisions of any statute.

SEC. 13. "Restricted Data” as Defined in the Atomic Energy Act. Nothing in this order shall supersede any requirements made by or under the Atomic Energy Act of August 1. 1946, as amended. "Restricted Data" as defined by the said act shall be handled, protected, classified, downgraded, and declassified in conformity with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, as amended, and the regulations of the Atomic Energy Commission. SEC. 14. Combat Operations. The provisions of this order with regard to dissemination, transmission. or safekeeping of classified defense information or material may be so modified in connection with combat or combat-related operations as the Secretary of Defense may by regulations prescribe.

SEC. 15. Exceptional Cases. When, in an exceptional case, a person or agency not authorized to classify defense information originates information which is believed to require classification, such person or agency shall protect that information in the manner prescribed by this order for that category of classified defense information into which it is believed to fall, and shall transmit the information forthwith, under appropriate safeguards, to the department, agency, or person having both the authority to classify information and a direct official interest in the information (preferably, that department, agency, or person to which the information would be transmitted in the ordinary course of business), with a request that such depart ment, agency, or person classify the information.

SEC. 16. Review to Insure That Information is Not Improperly Withheld Hereunder. The President shall designate a member of his staff who shall receive, consider, and take action upon, suggestions or complaints from non-Governmental sources relating to the operation of this order.

SEC. 17. Review to Insure Safeguarding of Classified Defense Information. The National Security Council shall conduct a continuing review of the implementation of this order to insure that classified defense information is properly safeguarded, in conformity herewith.

SEC. 18. Review Within Departments and Agencies. The head of each department and agency shall designate a member or members of his staff who shall conduct a continuing review of the implementation of this order within the department or agency concerned to insure that no information is withheld hereunder which the people of the United States have a right to know, and to insure that classified defense information is properly safeguarded in conformity herewith.

SEC. 19. Revocation of Executive Order No. 10290. Executive Order No. 10290 of September 24, 1951 is revoked as of the effective date of this order. SEC. 20. Effective Date. This order shall become effective on December 15, 1953. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER,

THE WHITE HOUSE, November 5, 1953.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10816

4

AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10501 OF NOVEMBER 5, 1953 RELATING TO SAFEGUARDING OFFICIAL INFORMATION IN THE INTERESTS OF THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, and as President of the United States, and deeming such action necessary in the best interests of the national security, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Executive Order No. 10501 of November 5, 1953, relating to safeguarding official information in the interests of the defense of the United States, is hereby amended as follows:

1. Section 4 is amended by adding a new subparagraph at the end thereof, as follows:

"(i) Departments and agencies which do not have authority for original classification. The provisions of this section relating to the declassification of defense material shall apply to departments or agencies which do not, under the terms of this order, have authority for original classification of material, but which have formerly classified material puruant to Executive Order No. 102905 of September 24, 1951."

2. Section 15 is amended by adding a new subparagraph at the end thereof, as follows:

"Historical Research. As an exception to the standard for access prescribed in the first sentence of section 7, but subject to all other provisions of this order, the head of an agency may permit persons outside the executive branch performing functions in connection with historical research projects to have access to classified defense information originated within his agency

418 F.R. 7049; 3 CFR 1949-1953 Comp., p. 979.

53 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 789.

if he determines that: (a) access to the information will be clearly conistent with the interests of national defense, and (b) the person to be granted access is trustworthy: Provided, that the head of the agency shall take appropriate steps to assure that classified information is not published or otherwise compromised."

3. The first sentence of subparagraph (d) of section 8 is amended to read as follows:

"Confidential defense material shall be transmitted within the continental United States by one of the means established for higher classifications, by registered, certified or first-class mail, or by express or freight under such conditions as may be prescribed by the head of the department or agency concerned."

THE WHITE HOUSE, May 7, 1959.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, September 20, 1961.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10964

AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10501,1 ENTITLED "SAFEGUARDING OFFICIAL INFORMATION IN THE INTERESTS OF THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES"

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, and deeming such action necessary in the best interest of the national security, it is ordered that Executive Order No. 10501 of November 5, 1953, as amended, be, and it is hereby, further amended as follows:

1. Section 4 is amended

(A) By substituting for the first paragraph thereof the following:

"SEC. 4. Declassification, Downgrading, or Upgrading. When classified information or material no longer requires its present level of protection in the defense interest, it shall be downgraded or declassified in order to preserve the effectiveness and integrity of the classification system and to eliminate classifications of information or material which no longer require classification protection. Heads of departments or agencies originating classified information or material shall designate persons to be responsible for continuing review of such classified information or material on a document-by-document, category, project, program, or other systematic basis, for the purpose of declassifying or downgrading whenever national defense considerations permit, and for receiving requests for such review from all sources. However, Restricted Data and material formerly designated as Restricted Data shall be handled only in accordance with subparagraph 4(a) (1) below and section 13 of this order. The following special rules shall be observed with respect to changes of classification of defense information or material, including information or material heretofore classified:"

(B) By deleting paragraph (a), (e), (g), (h), and (i) and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"(a) Automatic Changes. In order to insure uniform procedures for automatic changes, heads of departments and agencies having authority for original classification of information or material, as set forth in section 2, shall categorize such classified information or material into the following groups:

"(1) Group 1. Information or material originated by foreign governments or international organizations and over which the United States Government has no jurisdiction, information or material provided for by statutes such as the Atomic Energy Act, and information or material requiring special handling, such as intelligence and cryptography. This information and material is excluded from automatic downgrading or declassification.

"(2) Group 2. Extremely sensitive information or material which the head of the agency or his designees exempt, on an individual basis, from automatic downgrading and declassification.

"(3) Group 3. Information or material which warrants some degree of classification for an indefinite period. Such information or material shall

118 F.R. 7049; 3 CFR 1949-1953 Comp., p. 979.