Classified Information

GAO identified more than $350 million in governmentwide costs connected with national security information in 1992. This included upwards of $239 million for security clearances; $58 million for safes, secure telephones, and encryption devices; $49 million for courier services; and $6 million for declassification work. The government spends billions more each year to safeguard information, personnel, and property. The portion of these costs attributable to national security requirements is unclear. GAO believes that federal agencies need to compile better information with which to evaluate needs and cut costs. GAO supports the Pentagon's efforts to develop a standardized system to track security costs among its various components. Cost alone, however, is not necessarily a determining factor in whether classification and subsequent protection are justified. The basic question is whether classification requirements and processes can be adjusted as world conditions change. A recent presidential directive to reevaluate how national security information is protected should result in a new executive order on this subject. If some requirements end up being reduced, then the attendant costs will likely also be reduced.

GAO found that: (1) governmentwide costs directly applicable to national security information totalled over $350 million in 1992, including $239 million for security clearances, $58 million for secure equipment, $49 million for courier services, and $6 million for declassification work; (2) in addition, the government spends billions of dollars annually for physical safeguards to protect both classified and unclassified information and property, and secure communications and computers used for sensitive, but unclassified, data, and for administrative tasks associated with information security; and (3) the Department of Defense has taken action to standardize procedures and reduce the costs associated with handling classified information and security clearances.