Report Contents
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and disseminate guidance to all Department of State (Department) bureaus and offices regarding how the bureaus should meet their responsibilities outlined in the Foreign Affairs Manual for monitoring and enforcing the mandatory classification training requirements for all Department employees. The guidance should specify, at a minimum, how the bureaus should identify their staff members who require classification training to comply with Executive Order 13526, when each bureau’s initial list of individuals who must take the required training is due to the Bureau of Administration, and how often the lists need to be updated. The guidance should also specify the procedures that each bureau must follow to sanction security-cleared individuals who do not take the required training.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, in coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, develop and disseminate guidance to Department of State bureaus and offices that describes when a security-cleared contractor must take classification training required by Executive Order 13526, who will pay for the training, and how the suspension of classification authority will apply to security-cleared contractors who do not complete the required training.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Information Resource Management develop and implement a control within the Classified State Messaging Archive and Retrieval Toolset that allows only individuals who occupy positions that have been designated as original classification authority to identify themselves as such when making original classification decisions.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Information Resource Management develop and implement corrective actions to prevent the Classified State Messaging Archive and Retrieval Toolset from being uninstalled or, if the software becomes uninstalled, that the Bureau of Information Resource Management be notified that the software needs to be reinstalled.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and implement a process to formally request and obtain, from all bureaus and offices within the Department of State, annual reports of all classification decisions made to facilitate compliance with Executive Order 13526 and with the inspection and reporting requirements contained in Title 32, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 2001.60 and 2001.90.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration develop and disseminate guidance to all bureaus and offices regarding the creation and maintenance of repositories of classified documents to facilitate the count of classification decisions reported annually in the Agency Security Classification Management Program Data form and to facilitate the review of a representative sample of classified documents during each self-inspection.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, (a) conduct a staffing workload assessment of the Bureau of Administration, Office of Information Programs and Services, and (b) ensure that the office has, or will obtain, the adequate level of resources as determined by the assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to determine whether the Bureau of Administration has the appropriate level of resources necessary to establish and maintain an effective sustainable process for the development of the annual Agency Security Classification Management Program Data report and for sampling and reviewing classified documents required as part of a self-inspection under Executive Order 13526.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, in coordination with the Under Secretary for Management, develop and implement a standard operating procedure for periodically reviewing and updating the lists of positions in which personnel are authorized to make original classification decisions to ensure that these lists are current and accurate.