Defense and national security

Executive Order 13142: Amendment to Executive Order 12958—Classified National Security Information

President: Bill Clinton

Extended automatic-declassification deadlines and formally placed the Information Security Oversight Office within the National Archives.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13142 still in effect? No. Revoked with EO 12958 when EO 13526 replaced the classification order in 2009.

What does Executive Order 13142 do?

EO 13142 amended the 1995 classification order to delay automatic declassification for large historical collections, create special timing for multi-agency and intelligence-source files, and formalise ISOO within NARA with oversight and inspection authority. EO 13292 rewrote EO 12958 in 2003. EO 13526 replaced and revoked EO 12958 and its amendments in 2009, while retaining a modern automatic-declassification system and ISOO role.

Administration position: The amendment delayed and organized review; it did not make every 25-year-old record immediately public because exemptions, agency review and other disclosure laws still applied.
SignedNovember 19, 1999
Parent orderEO 12958
Immediate purposeAdjust automatic-declassification timetable

Before and after

Before the order

The original five-year implementation deadline threatened to overwhelm review of roughly 1.5 billion historical pages.

After the order

Agencies received staggered deadlines and NARA-based ISOO obtained clearer program authority.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Federal agenciesReview eligible historical records under revised deadlinesSuperseded
ISOO DirectorIssue directives, inspect programs and monitor complianceContinues under EO 13526
ArchivistOversee ISOO and declassification administrationContinuing under successor

What happened next

EO 13142 amended the classification system.

EO 13292 rewrote EO 12958.

EO 13526 replaced and revoked EO 12958 and its amendments.