(a) Mandatory review. All declassification requests made by a member of the public, by a government employee or by an agency shall be handled by the Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee. Under no circumstances shall the Executive Director refuse to confirm the existence or nonexistence of a document under the Freedom of Information Act or the mandatory review provisions of other applicable law, unless the fact of its existence or nonexistence would itself be classifiable under applicable law. Although NCUA has no authority to classify or declassify information, it occasionally handles information classified by another agency. The Executive Director shall refer all declassification requests to the agency that originally classified the information. The Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee shall notify the requesting person or agency that the request has been referred to the originating agency and that all further inquiries and appeals must be made directly to the other agency.

(b) Handling and safeguarding national security information. All information classified “Top Secret,” “Secret,” and “Confidential” shall be delivered to the Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee immediately upon receipt. The Executive Director shall advise those who may come into possession of such information of the name of the current designee. If the Executive Director is unavailable, the designee shall lock the documents, unopened, in the combination safe located in the secure facility of the Office of the Executive Director. If the Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee is unavailable to receive such documents, the documents shall be delivered in accordance with NCUA's mail handling procedures for classified information. Under no circumstances shall classified materials that cannot be delivered to the Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee be stored in a location other than in the safe designated by the Executive Director for information classified “Top Secret,” “Secret,” and “Confidential.”

(c) Storage. All classified documents shall be stored in the safe designated by the Executive Director for information classified “Top Secret,” “Secret,” and “Confidential.” The combination shall be known only to the Executive Director and the Executive Director's designee holding the proper security clearance.

(d) Employee education.

(1) The Executive Director shall send a memo to every NCUA employee who:

(i) Has a security clearance; and

(ii) May handle classified materials.

(2) This memo shall describe NCUA procedures for handling, reproducing and storing classified documents. The Executive Director shall require each such employee to review applicable Executive Orders on the classification of national security information.

(e) Agency terminology. The National Credit Union Administration's Central Office shall use the terms “Top Secret,” “Secret” or “Confidential” only in relation to materials classified for national security purposes.

[63 FR 14338, Mar. 25, 1998, as amended at 67 FR 30774, May 8, 2002; 73 FR 30478, May 28, 2008; 78 FR 32547, May 31, 2013]