Via FAS – US Department of State OIG – Compliance Follow-up Review of the Department of State’s Implementation of Executive Order 13526, Classified National Security Information

“OIG found that most of the Department’s security-cleared employees had not taken the training required by Executive Order 13526. Based on training records obtained from the Foreign Service Institute, OIG found that less than 14 percent of security-cleared employees had completed the required training within the timeframe considered in this review. Moreover, only 20 percent had completed the training even one time since the outset of the training program. In addition, the Department had not implemented the sanction provision in the Executive Order that suspends an individual’s classification authority until training is completed. These conditions occurred in part because the Bureau of Administration had not provided adequate guidance to the Department’s bureaus specifying how the process for suspending classification authority should work. When Department employees and contractors are unaware of classification standards and no mechanism is in place to enforce training requirements, there is an increased risk that information could be incorrectly marked,restricted or disseminated.”