Denver — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined Committee Chairman U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) to introduce the Sensible Classification Act, bipartisan legislation to reform the security classification system in order to reduce overclassification, prevent mishandling of classified information, promote better use of intelligence, and enhance public trust.
“Recent leaks of classified intelligence have laid bare the need to reform how the U.S. handles our most sensitive information. This bill is an important step to safeguard our sources and collection methods across the world, and reduce the risk of leaks,” said Bennet.
“The government systematically overclassifies too much information, at a dangerous cost to both the nation’s security and the public trust. At the same time, we too often fail to protect the nation’s most important secrets. As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I think it is clear that our security classification system is badly in need of change,” said Warner. “Given the explosion in digital records, the status quo is no longer tenable. We’ve got too many people with access to a system that is devoid of accountability and has grown increasingly byzantine, bureaucratic, and outmoded. We need to protect our national security secrets, and then declassify those secrets when protections are no longer necessary. It’s time for Congress to take action and establish accountability.”
Specifically, the Sensible Classification Act of 2023 will codify classification authority, streamline the processes for declassification, dedicate additional resources to the issue of declassification, invest in new technology to assist with classification reviews, and undertake an evaluation of existing security clearances and their justifications to identify potential areas for additional reforms.
In addition to Bennet and Warner, this legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Angus King (I-Maine), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
The text of the bill is available HERE.