(2010-1205-F) Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) - Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)

The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) was authorized by President William Jefferson Clinton in Executive Order 12958 signed April 17, 1995. The Executive Order (EO) created a six person panel who would advise the President on declassification of national security information. This six member panel was comprised of senior level staff members designated by the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Archivist of the United States, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The executive secretary was the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO); part of the National Archives and Records Administration. In addition ISOO staff was to assist in the daily administration of ISCAP. ISCAP was originally charged with three responsibilities: first, to decide appeals by authorized persons who have filed classification challenges under Section 1.9 of the EO; second, the panel was to approve, deny, or amend agency exemptions from automatic declassification; third, the panel was to decide on mandatory review appeals by individuals whose requests for declassification had been denied at the  agency level. Executive Order 13526, signed by President Barack Obama, amended EO 12958 and added two additional duties for the panel. They now also inform senior agency officials and the public of their appeal decisions and they have final decision on agency requests to remove file series from automatic declassification at 25 years. The first meeting of ISCAP was in May 1996. That first panel was chaired by Roslyn Mazer, Department of Justice with Joan Dempsey, Department of Defense; Michael Kurtz, National Archives and Records Administration; William Leary, National Security Council; Frank Machak, Department of State; and Richard Wilhelm, Intelligence Community; filling out the list. The list produced for this FOIA is a hard copy of the electronic database maintained by the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) on behalf of ISCAP. This unclassified list reflects the cases before the panel from 1996 to December 15, 2000. It identifies documents on appeal and it shows agency decisions on declassification as well as the panel’s ruling on the appeal. This database was available in an electronic form from the ISOO by request.