‘TREY GOWDY, SOUTH CAROLINA Congress of the United States Ran neon wo, ceonicia House of Representatives PETER ROSKAM. ILLINOIS Select Committee on Benghazi Mike rowrreo, KaNsne Mann ar acne 1036 Longworth House Ofice Building SUSAN‘ BROOKS, INDIANA Washington, D.C. 20515-6080 (202) 226-7100 PUP 6K, Sar Omen ees July 8, 2015 The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary US. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Kerry: ELUAH E. CUMMINGS, MARYLAND ‘Ranune Minorsry Mewaen ADAM SMITH, WASHINGTON ADAM B. SCHIFF, CALIFORNIA LINDA T, SANCHEZ, CALIFORNIA "TAMMY DUCKWORTH, ILLINOIS 114 CONGRESS SUSANNE SACHSMAN GROOMS, Muonrry Stare Diteron Lam writing to express concern with respect to the apparently arbitrary classification or over-classification of documents related to the investigation. There appear to be substantial issues with respect to the April production of documents related to the Benghazi Accountability Review Board. Since the beginning of this Administration, the President has adopted the policy that over-classification of materials is a systemic problem. The Administration has accordingly vowed that Executive Branch agencies would proactively avoid over-classification and take steps to declassify documents when appropriate. Consistent with that guidance, the President re-issued an Executive Order relating to the processes for classifying and managing national security information, including steps designed to prevent the improper classification of government information.! Executive Order 13526 (the “Executive Order”) reaffirmed specific steps executive branch classification authorities must follow in classifying information. ‘The recent productions of ARB documents by the Department suggest that the Department has not followed the procedures and guidance required by the Executive Order. Much of the information in the productions is unnecessarily, and improperly, marked as classified. These documents are improperly classified at in least three respects: 1) the content of the information contained in virtually all of the interview summaries does not fall within any of the national security categories that allow for classification; 1 Bxec, Order No 13526- Classified National Security Information (Dec. 29, 2009), available at: utp: /Awww-gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2010-title3-vol /pdf/CFR-2010-title3-voll-e013526.pdf.‘The Honorable John F. Kerry July 8, 2015 Page 2 2) the documents do not bear, as required, the name of the individual with original classification authority who reviewed the information for classification, nor the reason underlying the classification decision, nor the date of declassification; and 3) many of the documents marked as classified do not bear the required paragraph markings. These deficiencies lead to the conclusion that a classification label was merely “slapped on," perhaps by an individual without original classification authority. Specific examples further illustrate this concern. Nota single summary of an interview conducted by the ARB panel bearing a Secret classification label contains the name of the classifier, the reason for classification, or the date of declassification. None of these interview summaries contain paragraph markings. Moreover, the ARB daily calendars indicate that very few of the interviews were conducted in a secure setting or by secure means. For instance, one Diplomatic Security agent whose ARB interview was conducted by video teleconference told us that his interview was not classified and that his foreign post did not even have secure equipment to allow such an interview. Our review of his ARB interview summary indicates that no classified information was discussed during this interview. Yet, despite the fact that his interview was conducted in an unclassified setting and no classified information was discussed, his entire interview summary is marked as classified Apart from the interview summaries, there are several other documents that appear to be internal memoranda of reviews of documents produced to the ARB. These memoranda contain summaries of unclassified documents, yet the summary memoranda are marked as classified. One example of this is found at SCB0047219-21 where a two page document containing unclassified information is summarized in a single page memorandum that is then marked as classified. | further note that Section 1.7 of the Executive Order specifically prohibits information from being classified in order to “conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error”, to “prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency”, or to “prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.” ‘Therefore: 1. Please identify the original classification authority who initially reviewed these documents and determined that each met the proper national security requirements for classification pursuant to the Executive Order. In addition, where applicable, 2 Transcribed Interview of [Name], former Benghazi TDY RSO at 39-40 (Apr. 15, 2015), on file with author. 3"Former Benghazi TDY RSO [Name] - October 16, 2012, Interview (via DVC from Jeddah)" [SCBO046035 - 580046037].‘The Honorable John F. Kerry July 8, 2015 Page 3 please identify any individual responsible for any derivative classification pursuant to Section 2.1 of the Executive Order. Jam challenging, pursuant to Section 1.8 of the Executive Order, the classification status of the material contained in the ARB production and requesting a classification review of the ARB production. All documents marked classified in some manner should be reviewed to determine whether each is in fact properly classified. For those documents that are properly classified, each such document should disclose, as required, the name of the classification authority, the reason for the classification, the date of declassification, and the classification level of each paragraph within the document. Please begin the review of the ARB production with the interview summaries and summary memorandums. also want to clearly communicate my expectation that the provisions of the Executive Order noted above will be scrupulously adhered to with respect to any future productions to the Committee, as well as any classification review conducted of transcripts of Committee depositions or interviews. 1am aware that Assistant Secretary Frifield recently asked that we limit new requests, so that the Department could focus on producing requested documents, but it would seem this task should not affect those who are engaged in that productio Ifyou have any questions about these requests please contact Committee staff at (202) 226-7100. cc: rey Gowdy Chairman ‘The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member