Classified Information Policy and Executive Order 13526

Recently, there have been multiple high-profile incidents involving the release of classified government information. Perhaps most prominent was Wikileaks.orgs unauthorized publication of more than 600,000 classified Department of Defense documents. Such incidents have further heightened congressional, media, and public interest in classified information policy. President Barack H. Obama issued Executive Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information on December 29, 2009, and Congress enacted P.L. 111-258, the Reducing Over- Classification Act, which President Obama signed into law on October 9, 2010. This report provides information on classified information policy, which also is called security classification policy and national security classification information policy. It discusses the history, costs, and agencies assigned roles in classified information policy. The report focuses on Executive Order 13526, which establishes much of the current policy, and the report identifies possible oversight issues for Congress.