WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- A memorandum signed by U.S. President George Bush creates a new term for classifying information, but doesn't say what data are affected, a review indicates.
Bush's memo, signed earlier in May, said "Controlled Unclassified Information" would replace the "Sensitive but Unclassified" category, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Information in the category is "pertinent" to U.S. "national interests" or to "important interests of entities outside the federal government," the memo read.
Not defined are which laws or policies prompted the requirement, and what interests are pertinent, the Post said.
The memo discussed balancing the "global nature of the threats facing the United States" with protecting "sensitive information, information privacy and other legal rights of Americans."
Implementation falls to the National Archives and Records Administration, which has five years to apply the program throughout all levels of government as well as in "tribal, private sector and foreign-partner entities," the memo said. The agency was directed to develop one set of policies and procedures on how materials should be marked, stored and disseminated.
The designation was the product of a yearlong government study.