Executive Order 13526 requires all executive branch agencies with Original Classification Authority to conduct a comprehensive Fundamental Classification Guidance Review (FCGR) of their agency’s’ classification guidance. These FCGR’s are required to ensure the proper and up-to-date classification of vital national security information, while avoiding over-classification and the unnecessary withholding of government information. Federal agencies are required to complete the FCGR periodically but at least every five years. 32 C.F.R. 2001.16 specifies that agencies must complete their FCGRs periodically but at least one every five years.
The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) created a checklist for federal agencies to follow in completing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 FCGR. The checklist is now available on ISOO’s FCGR webpage https://www.archives.gov/isoo/fcgr/2022-fcgr-html for agencies to use.
The ISOO Director issued the FY 2022 FCGR Tasking Memorandum on December 9, 2021, which is also available on the ISOO FCGR webpage. Federal agencies were required to submit their Points of Contact (POCs) for conducting the FY 2022 FCGR on January 14, 2022, as previously announced here on The ISOO Overview.
The FY 2022 FCGR Checklist fulfills requirements in 32 C.F.R. 2001.16. It also includes questions regarding the use of machine-readable electronic formats and metadata standards by Federal agencies in providing practitioners with access to agency classification guidance, and in the electronic marking of classified information. For examples of Federal guidance on machine-readable formats, see:
- Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act or the OPEN Government Data Act, Public Law 115-435 (January 14, 2019), Title II, Sec. 202 (20)(A), https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
- E.O. 13642, Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information (May 9, 2013), Executive Order — Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information | whitehouse.gov (archives.gov);
For examples of Federal guidance on metadata standards, see:
- Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act or the OPEN Government Data Act, Public Law 115-435 (January 14, 2019), Title II, Sec. 202 (a)(19), https://www.congress.gov/115/plaws/publ435/PLAW-115publ435.pdf.
To confirm your agency POC, and for any questions regarding the FY 2022 FCGR, please contact Robert Fahs, ISOO Program Analyst, by email to robert.fahs@nara.gov.