Obama orders review of classification system

President Barack Obama ordered national security adviser James L. Jones to suggest revisions to the existing presidential order on national security classification, the AP reported. Jones is also tasked with deciding whether a National Declassification Center should be created to address the backlog of 51 million pages scheduled for declassification. Obama also called for a government-wide task force to standardized the stamps used on controlled but unclassified documents. There are currently 107 different stamps and 130 different procedures for appying them.

Expanding his drive to open government, President Barack Obama is ordering two studies of whether the government is classifying too much information and using too many different ways to keep it from public view.

He wants the answers in just 90 days, and it's no secret which way he's leaning.
In a memo Wednesday, Obama ordered national security adviser James L. Jones to consult relevant agencies and recommend revisions in the existing presidential order on national security classification that lays out the rules under which agencies can stamp documents confidential, secret or top secret.

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