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The original was posted on /r/ufos by /u/showmeufos on 2024-09-25 19:57:00+00:00.
Many in the r/UFOs community are familiar with “2027” as a year that may be relevant to disclosure. I thus far have not seen any particularly compelling set of reasons why this would be the case, so I figured I’d share one potential reason: United States classification laws.
Disclosure: I am not an expert in classification laws. I am not a lawyer, and I do not work in the intelligence community, so some of this may be incorrect. If you spot something incorrect please mention it in comments and I’ll do my best to adjust the post. All of this is just from my own personal research into this subject that I thought was nonetheless worth sharing.
The U.S. National Archives maintains a page from their “Information Security Oversight Office” (ISOO) with a list of ISOO notices. Some of these notices (archive.org backup link for posterity since their February release of the same document was revised in June and is no longer available on their site… so much for “National Archive”) describe automatic declassification timelines, as well as exemptions to those timelines.
The document we’ll be looking at today is the “ISOO Notice 2024-02: Agencies Eligible to Receive Referrals from Automatic Declassification at 25, 50, and 75 Years” which describes agencies that “have received approval from the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) to exempt specific information from automatic declassification and may receive referrals resulting from automatic declassification reviews.”
The US agencies covered by this document are:
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
- Department of the Air Force (Air Force)
- Department of the Army (Army)
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Department of Homeland Security, only for the following two component organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- United States Secret Service (USSS)
- Department of Justice (DOJ)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Department of the Navy (Navy)
- Department of State (State)
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP)
- United States Mint
- Joint Staff, and the following Combatant Commands:
- United States Central Command (CENTCOM)
- United States European Command (EUCOM)
- United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM)/North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
- United States Pacific Command (PACOM)
- United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
- United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM)
- United States Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)
- Missile Defense Agency (MDA)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
- National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- National Security Council (NSC)
- Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)
The current prevailing executive order pertaining to the handling of classified information is Executive Order 13526- Classified National Security Information - signed December 29, 2009 under Obama. That order establishes the following:
Sec. 1.5. Duration of Classification. (a) At the time of original classification, the original classification authority shall establish a specific date or event for declassification based on the duration of the national security sensitivity of the information. Upon reaching the date or event, the information shall be automatically declassified. Except for information that should clearly and demonstrably be expected to reveal the identity of a confidential human source or a human intelligence source or key design concepts of weapons of mass destruction, the date or event shall not exceed the time frame established in paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) If the original classification authority cannot determine an earlier specific date or event for declassification, information shall be marked for declassification 10 years from the date of the original decision, unless the original classification authority otherwise determines that the sensitivity of the information requires that it be marked for declassification for up to 25 years from the date of the original decision.
So the “default” classification duration for information would be 10 years, and “sensitive” information is marked 25 years. Information is supposed to be automatically declassified after these durations. In reality, almost all information that is notable is considered “sensitive” and appears to fall under this 25 year declassification timeframe. Also, notably, that same order states:
(d) No information may remain classified indefinitely. Information marked for an indefinite duration of classification under predecessor orders, for example, marked as “Originating Agency’s Determination Required,” or classified information that contains incomplete declassification instructions or lacks declassification instructions shall be declassified in accordance with part 3 of this order.
So keeping information classified forever should generally be unlawful. However, note that this also refers to “part 3” of this order. Part 3 is “PART 3 – DECLASSIFICATION AND DOWNGRADING” and contains several sections relating to the authorities for declassification, the transferring of records, and notably, section 3.3, automatic declassification. That section reads:
Automatic Declassification. (a) Subject to paragraphs (b)–(d) and (g)–(j) of this section, all classified records that (1) are more than 25 years old and (2) have been determined to have permanent historical value under title 44, United States Code, shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records have been reviewed. All classified records shall be automatically declassified on December 31 of the year that is 25 years from the date of origin, except as provided in paragraphs (b)–(d) and (g)–(i) of this section. If the date of origin of an individual record cannot be readily determined, the date of original classification shall be used instead.
That section goes on to state the following:
(b) An agency head may exempt from automatic declassification under paragraph (a) of this section specific information, the release of which should clearly and demonstrably be expected to:
And here we get into a list of reasons that allow for automatic exemption from declassification. “Documents are exempt from the 25-year timeline as defined in section 1.5b, for the following reasons” (pay attention to the specific section numbers here too, we will refer to them later):
- reveal the identity of a confidential human source*, a human intelligence source, a relationship with an intelligence or security service of a foreign government or international organization, or a nonhuman intelligence source; or impair the effectiveness of an intelligence method currently in use, available for use, or under development;*
- reveal information that would assist in the development, production, or use of weapons of mass destruction;
- reveal information that would impair U.S. cryptologic systems or activities;
- reveal information that would impair the application of state-of-the-art technology within a U.S. weapon system;
- reveal formally named or numbered U.S. military war plans that remain in effect, or reveal operational or tactical elements of prior plans that are contained in such active plans;
- reveal information, including foreign government information, that would cause serious harm to relations between the United States and a foreign government*, or to ongoing diplomatic activities of the United States;*
- reveal information that would impair the current ability of United States Government officials to protect the President, Vice President, and other protectees for whom protection services, in the interest of the national security, are authorized;
- reveal information that would seriously impair current national security emergency preparedness plans or reveal current vulnerabilities of systems, installations, or infrastructures relating to the national security*; or*
- violate a statute, treaty, or international agreement that does not permit the automatic or unilateral declassification of information at 25 years.
Those are the 9 categories of reasoning allowed for exemption under the automatic 25-year declassification process. Now, if we refer back to the “ISOO Notice 2024-02: Agencies Eligible to Receive Referrals from Automatic Declassification at 25, 50, and 75 Years” document…
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1fpdovl/2027_is_there_reasoning_for_the_2027_date_being/