Intel classification rules

Is the U.S Intelligence Chief Serious About Fixing Overclassification? Time Will Tell

EFF has long been critical of overbroad government secrecy, which has been used to cover up everything from illegal activities to questionable legal justifications for mass surveillance.

Given that government officials default to withholding important details from the public regarding national security, we were pleasantly surprised to read a memo that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent to intelligence agencies last month.

Clapper’s memo directs the heads of several intelligence agencies, including the NSA and CIA, to substantially overhaul the government’s formal classification system as part of a process known as the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review.

Although the review sounds like a routine bureaucratic exercise, Clapper’s call for agencies to take a leading role in reducing the amount of information that is classified is potentially a game changer.

It is refreshing to see the country’s intelligence chief acknowledge that the government makes too much information secret via its arcane classification rules. Even better: Clapper went beyond merely admitting that too much information is classified and actually suggested some concrete solutions, including:...