1. U.S. Code
  2. title 10
  3. subtitle A
  4. part VI
  5. subpart B
  6. chapter 605
  7. subchapter II
  8. § 6231

Collapse to view only § 6231. Review of certain documents before declassification and release

§ 6231. Review of certain documents before declassification and release
(a)In General.—The Secretary of Energy shall ensure that, before a document of the Department of Energy that contains national security information is released or declassified, such document is reviewed to determine whether it contains Restricted Data.
(b)Limitation on Declassification.—The Secretary may not implement the automatic declassification provisions of Executive Order No. 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note) if the Secretary determines that such implementation could result in the automatic declassification and release of documents containing Restricted Data.
(Added Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1409.)

CITE AS: 10 USC 6231

§ 6232. Protection against inadvertent release of restricted data and formerly restricted data
(a)Plan for Protection Against Release.—The Secretary of Energy and the Archivist of the United States shall, after consultation with the members of the National Security Council and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, develop a plan to prevent the inadvertent release of records containing Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data during the automatic declassification of records under Executive Order No. 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note).
(b)Plan Elements.—The plan under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) The actions to be taken in order to ensure that records subject to Executive Order No. 13526 are reviewed on a page-by-page basis for Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data unless they have been determined to be highly unlikely to contain Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data.
(2) The criteria and process by which documents are determined to be highly unlikely to contain Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data.
(3) The actions to be taken in order to ensure proper training, supervision, and evaluation of personnel engaged in declassification under that Executive order so that such personnel recognize Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data.
(4) The extent to which automated declassification technologies will be used under that Executive order to protect Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data from inadvertent release.
(5) Procedures for periodic review and evaluation by the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives and Records Administration, of compliance by Federal agencies with the plan.
(6) Procedures for resolving disagreements among Federal agencies regarding declassification procedures and decisions under the plan.
(7) The funding, personnel, and other resources required to carry out the plan.
(8) A timetable for implementation of the plan.
(c)Limitation on Declassification of Certain Records.—
(1) Effective on October 17, 1998, and except as provided in paragraph (3), a record referred to in subsection (a) may not be declassified unless the agency having custody of the record reviews the record on a page-by-page basis to ensure that the record does not contain Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data.
(2) Any record determined as a result of a review under paragraph (1) to contain Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data may not be declassified until the Secretary of Energy, in conjunction with the head of the agency having custody of the record, determines that the document is suitable for declassification.
(3) After the date occurring 60 days after the submission of the plan required by subsection (a) to the committees referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (d), the requirement under paragraph (1) to review a record on a page-by-page basis shall not apply in the case of a record determined, under the actions specified in the plan pursuant to subsection (b)(1), to be a record that is highly unlikely to contain Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data.
(d)Submission of Plan.—The Secretary of Energy shall submit the plan required under subsection (a) to the following:
(1) The Committee on Armed Services of the Senate.
(2) The Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
(3) The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
(e)Report and Notification Regarding Inadvertent Releases.—
(1) The Secretary of Energy shall submit to the committees and Assistant to the President specified in subsection (d) a report on inadvertent releases of Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order No. 12958 that occurred before October 17, 1998.
(2) The Secretary of Energy shall, in each even-numbered year beginning in 2010, submit to the committees and Assistant to the President specified in subsection (d) a report identifying any inadvertent releases of Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order No. 13526 discovered in the two-year period preceding the submittal of the report.
(Added and amended Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), (d)(2)(B), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1409, 1462.)

CITE AS: 10 USC 6232

§ 6233. Supplement to plan for declassification of restricted data and formerly restricted data
(a)Supplement to Plan.—The Secretary of Energy and the Archivist of the United States shall, after consultation with the members of the National Security Council and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, develop a supplement to the plan required under subsection (a) of section 6232.
(b)Contents of Supplement.—The supplement shall provide for the application of that plan (including in particular the element of the plan required by section 6232(b)(1)) to all records subject to Executive Order No. 12958 that were determined before October 17, 1998, to be suitable for declassification.
(c)Limitation on Declassification of Records.—All records referred to in subsection (b) shall be treated, for purposes of subsection (c) of section 6232, in the same manner as records referred to in subsection (a) of such section.
(d)Submission of Supplement.—The Secretary of Energy shall submit the supplement required under subsection (a) to the recipients of the plan referred to in subsection (d) of section 6232.
(Added Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1411.)

CITE AS: 10 USC 6233

§ 6234. Protection of classified information during laboratory-to-laboratory exchanges
(a)Provision of Training.—The Secretary of Energy shall ensure that all Department of Energy employees and Department of Energy contractor employees participating in laboratory-to-laboratory cooperative exchange activities are fully trained in matters relating to the protection of classified information and to potential espionage and counterintelligence threats.
(b)Countering of Espionage and Intelligence-gathering Abroad.—
(1) The Secretary shall establish a pool of Department employees and Department contractor employees who are specially trained to counter threats of espionage and intelligence-gathering by foreign nationals against Department employees and Department contractor employees who travel abroad for laboratory-to-laboratory exchange activities or other cooperative exchange activities on behalf of the Department.
(2) The Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence of the Department of Energy may assign at least one employee from the pool established under paragraph (1) to accompany a group of Department employees or Department contractor employees who travel to any nation designated to be a sensitive country for laboratory-to-laboratory exchange activities or other cooperative exchange activities on behalf of the Department.
(Added and amended Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), (d)(2)(B), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1411, 1462.)

CITE AS: 10 USC 6234

§ 6235. Identification in budget materials of amounts for declassification activities and limitation on expenditures for such activities
(a)Amounts for Declassification of Records.—The Secretary of Energy shall include in the budget justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the Department of Energy budget for any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31) specific identification, as a budgetary line item, of the amounts required to carry out programmed activities during that fiscal year to declassify records pursuant to Executive Order No. 13526 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note), or any successor Executive order, or to comply with any statutory requirement to declassify Government records.
(b)Certification Required With Respect to Automatic Declassification of Records.—No records of the Department of Energy that have not as of October 5, 1999, been reviewed for declassification shall be subject to automatic declassification unless the Secretary of Energy certifies to Congress that such declassification would not harm the national security.
(Added Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1411.)

CITE AS: 10 USC 6235