DHS officials were requiring that all agency employees sign a strict non-disclosure agreement for unclassified information that was deemed “sensitive” and had even begun asking congressional aides to sign the agreements. The nondisclosure agreements prohibited signers from publicly disclosing any information from DHS deemed “sensitive” or labeled “For Official Use Only” even though the information was unclassified. For more information read OMB Watch’s previous article.

Janet Hale, Undersecretary for Management at DHS, issued a Jan. 11 memo to senior department heads explaining the new policies for protecting SBU information. Under the new SBU directive, signed Jan. 6, employees and contractors will no longer have to sign nondisclosure agreements to access SBU information and all previously signed agreements are no longer valid. Instead, the new directive stresses education and awareness to foster the appropriate level of protection for SBU information.

Clearly DHS will also desist in requesting congressional offices to sign such agreements. The original SBU directive never mentioned such requirements and congressional offices from both parties refused to sign the forms when approached, and voiced strong complaints to the requests.

Several areas of concern with the directive remain unchanged. For instance, DHS’s policy still allows any employee or contractor to label information, “For Official Use Only.” The directive also maintains the overly broad and vague definition for SBU as “any information that could adversely affect the national interest or the conduct of federal programs.”