Defense and national security

Executive Order 12958: Classified National Security Information

President: Bill Clinton

Rebuilt the executive classification system with stricter classification standards, automatic declassification and public-interest review; a successor order now controls.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 12958 still in effect? No. Revoked and replaced by EO 13526 on December 29, 2009.

What does Executive Order 12958 do?

EO 12958 governed original classification, safeguarding, access and declassification of national-security information. It required identifiable damage to national security, encouraged challenges to improper classification, created automatic and systematic declassification rules, and assigned oversight to the Information Security Oversight Office. EO 13292 substantially amended it in 2003. EO 13526 revoked and replaced the regime in 2009, so current classification decisions are not governed by EO 12958.

Administration position: The order sought less unnecessary secrecy while retaining protection for genuine national-security information. Its projected disclosure gains were policy claims, not guarantees for every record.
SignedApril 17, 1995
EffectiveOctober 14, 1995
Major amendmentEO 13292 in 2003

Before and after

Before the order

EO 12356 governed classification without the same automatic-declassification architecture.

After the order

Agencies used new classification and declassification rules until EO 13526 replaced them.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Agency classifiersApply the order’s classification standards1995–2009
Agency review programsProcess automatic and systematic declassificationUnder the former regime
ISOOOversee implementationUntil replacement

What happened next

EO 12958 was signed.

The order took effect.

EO 13292 amended it.

EO 13526 revoked and replaced it.