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Taking More Counterterrorism Reporting Out of ORCON Channels

SUMMARY

A recent effort to increase sharing of counterterrorism-related intelligence by avoiding the “ORCON,” or originator controlled, handling caveat has resulted in a 75 percent increase in dissemination, and other product lines are next.

DOCUMENT’S DATE

Apr 11, 2006

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

Aug 15, 2018

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Page 1 from Taking More Counterterrorism Reporting Out of ORCON Channels
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL (C) Taking More Counterterrorism Reporting Out of ORCON Channels FROM: Chief, Reporting Policy & Guidance (S12P1) Run Date: 04/11/2006 (C) In recent months, Information Sharing Services' (S12) forward-deployed Unified Reporting Service Center to the Office of Counterterrorism (S2I) made significant strides toward the Intelligence Community-wide goal of maximizing dissemination of counterterrorism-related intelligence with as few restrictions as possible. Dissemination of reports on the crucial counterterrorism target outside of restrictive ORCON channels has increased 75% , thanks to the URS center's coordination with S2I leadership and front-line analysts. S12's Reporting Policy and Guidance Office and the Analysis and Production Operation Staff are finalizing guidance that will extend this ORCON reduction effort to all organizations that report counterterroism information throughout the United States SIGINT System (USSS). The impetus for these actions is two-fold: (U//FOUO) The first is Executive Order 13356: Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans , which directs the DNI to ensure that terrorism information be shared free of controls such as those requiring the receiving organization to obtain the originator's consent prior to disseminating the information further. E.O. 13356 stresses that sharing counterterrorism information within the Intelligence Community and allowing its full use by trusted partners in the Global War on Terrorism often outweighs the potential risk to sources and methods. This is not to say that the protection of sources and methods is not important. The forthcoming guidance will take these equities into account, as described below. (U//FOUO) Secondly, a recent review has shown that the number of SIGINT products bearing the ORCON caveat continues to be excessive and application of the ORCON caveat often does not comply with DCID (Director of Central Intelligence Directive) 6/6 which governs its use. (U//FOUO) Once the official guidance is published, there will be a six-week grace period so that TOPIs (Target Offices of Primary Interest) can determine what information they believe still requires ORCON protection under the requirements detailed in DCID 6/6. As DIRNSA's approving authority for ORCON usage, Chief S12 will review any TOPI request to keep specific lines of reporting in ORCON channels. Requests will be staffed through the S2 Operations Staff to Chief, S12 for approval. Details will be published on the RPG website and announced via the RPTGUIDANCE e-mail alias which reaches hundreds of analysts and senior reporters across the USSS. (U//FOUO) This will be the first step in a fundamental review of all USSS ORCON reporting. After this initial CT phase is completed, we will work closely with the S2 Ops Staff to address the remaining target sets. "(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)." DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108