The following definitions apply under these regulations:

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Terms Used In 29 CFR 14.4

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.

(a) Primary organization unit—refers to an agency headed by an official reporting to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary.

(b) Classify—to assign information to one of the classification categories after determining that the information requires protection in the interest of national security.

(c) Courier—an individual designated by appropriate authority to protect classified and administratively controlled information in transit.

(d) Custodian—the person who has custody or is responsible for the custody of classified information.

(e) Declassify—the authorized removal of an assigned classification.

(f) Document—any recorded information regardless of its physical form or characteristics, including (but not limited to):

(1) Written material—(whether handwritten, printed or typed).

(2) Painted, drawn, or engraved material.

(3) Sound or voice recordings.

(4) Printed photographs and exposed or printed films (either still or motion picture).

(5) Reproductions of the foregoing, by whatever process.

(g) Downgrade—to assign lower classfication than that previously assigned.

(h) Derivative classification—a determination that information is in substance the same as information that is currently classified. It is to incorporate, paraphrase, restate or generate in new form information that is already classified (usually by another Federal agency).

(i) Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)—an office located in the National Archives and Records Administration (GSA) that monitors the implementation of E.O. 12356.

(j) Marking—the physical act of indicating the assigned security classification on national security information.

(k) Material—any document, product, or substance on or in which information is recorded or embodied.

(l) Nonrecord material—extra copies and duplicates, the use of which is temporary, including shorthand notes, used carbon paper, preliminary drafts, and other material of similar nature.

(m) Paraphrasing—a restatement of the text without alteration of its meaning.

(n) Product and substance—any item of material (other than a document) in all stages of development, processing, or construction and including elements, ingredients, components, accessories, fixtures, dies, models, and mockup associated with such items.

(o) Record material—all books, papers, maps, photographs, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by the U.S. Government in connection with the transaction of public business; this includes material preserved by an agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of its organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, or other activities, or because of the informational data contained herein.

(p) True reading—the paraphrased literal text.

(q) Upgraded—to assign a higher classification than that previously assigned.

[50 FR 51391, Dec. 17, 1985, as amended at 72 FR 37098, July 9, 2007]