WASHINGTON, January 9 (Sputnik) — The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is complying with all classification policies but requires additional training programs management, the inspector general of the US intelligence community found in a report released Friday.
The congressionally mandated report investigated whether the intelligence community was following proper classification policies and over-classifying information.
"The Intelligence Community Inspector General found no instances where classification was used to conceal violation of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency; restrain competition; or prevent or delay the release of information not requiring protection in the interest of national security," the US intelligence community inspector concluded.
The inspector general found, however, deficiencies in training, program management and oversight. Training for persons authorized to classify intelligence community documents "did not sufficiently prepare personnel to make accurate derivative classification decisions," the inspector general said, while "self-inspection program did not fully comply" with standards.
"Overall, effective program management – including high quality training, self-inspections, and adequate oversight – requires an increased emphasis across the intelligence community enterprise," the report said.
Five recommendations were issued by the inspector general, all of which were agreed to by the DNI.
DNI oversees all 16 US intelligence agencies and directs and administers the way information is classified, safeguarded, and declassified. In 2009, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to require a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding and declassifying national security information. The executive order, according to the DNI report, seeks to create a balance between protecting information critical to national security and the need to demonstrate an open government.
The US intelligence community has been marred by the release of hundreds of thousands of classified documents by WikiLeaks and former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. The WikiLeaks documents revealed diplomatic cables and other classified information. Snowden's revelations of the NSA's surveillance program has caused widespread concern among US allies and the American public over the intelligence agency's sweeping snooping practices.
