By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws ofthe United States of America, and in order to further strengthen the effectiveconduct of United States intelligence activities and protect the territory,people, and interests of the United States of America, including againstterrorist attacks, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. To the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,agencies shall, in the design and use of information systems and in thedissemination of information among agencies:

(a) give the highest priority to (i) the detection, prevention, disruption,preemption, and mitigation of the effects of terrorist activities against theterritory, people, and interests of the United States of America, (ii) theinterchange of terrorism information among agencies, (iii) the interchange ofterrorism information between agencies and appropriate authorities of States andlocal governments, and (iv) the protection of the ability of agencies to acquireadditional such information; and

(b) protect the freedom, information privacy, and other legal rights ofAmericans in the conduct of activities implementing subsection (a).

Sec. 2. Duty of Heads of Agencies Possessing or Acquiring TerrorismInformation. To implement the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, thehead of each agency that possesses or acquires terrorism information:

(a) shall promptly give access to the terrorism information to the head ofeach other agency that has counterterrorism functions, and provide the terrorisminformation to each such agency in accordance with the standards and informationsharing guidance issued pursuant to this order, unless otherwise directed by thePresident, and consistent with (i) the statutory responsibilities of theagencies providing and receiving the information, (ii) any guidance issued bythe Attorney General to fulfill the policy set forth in subsection 1(b) of thisorder, and (iii) other applicable law, including section 103(c)(7) of theNational Security Act of 1947, section 892 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002,Executive Order 12958 of April 17, 1995, as amended, and Executive Order 13311of July 29, 2003;

(b) shall cooperate in and facilitate production of reports based onterrorism information with contents and formats that permit dissemination thatmaximizes the utility of the information in protecting the territory, people,and interests of the United States; and

(c) shall facilitate implementation of the plan developed by the InformationSystems Council established by section 5 of this order.

Sec. 3. Preparing Terrorism Information for Maximum Distribution withinIntelligence Community. To assist in expeditious and effective implementation byagencies within the Intelligence Community of the policy set forth in section 1of this order, the Director of Central Intelligence shall, in consultation withthe Attorney General and the other heads of agencies within the IntelligenceCommunity, set forth not later than 90 days after the date of this order, andthereafter as appropriate, common standards for the sharing of terrorisminformation by agencies within the Intelligence Community with (i) otheragencies within the Intelligence Community, (ii) other agencies havingcounterterrorism functions, and (iii) through or in coordination with theDepartment of Homeland Security, appropriate authorities of State and localgovernments. These common standards shall improve information sharing by suchmethods as:

(a) requiring, at the outset of the intelligence collection and analysisprocess, the creation of records and reporting, for both raw and processedinformation including, for example, metadata and content, in such a manner thatsources and methods are protected so that the information can be distributed atlower ification levels, and by creating unified versions fordistribution whenever possible;

(b) requiring records and reports related to terrorism information to beproduced with multiple versions at an unified level and at varying levelsof ification, for example on an electronic tearline basis, allowing varyingdegrees of access by other agencies and personnel commensurate with theirparticular security clearance levels and special access approvals;

(c) requiring terrorism information to be shared free of originator controls,including, for example, controls requiring the consent of the originating agencyprior to the dissemination of the information outside any other agency to whichit has been made available, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law,Executive Orders, or Presidential guidance;

(d) minimizing the applicability of information compartmentalization systemsto terrorism information, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law,Executive Orders, and Presidential guidance; and

(e) ensuring the establishment of appropriate arrangements providingincentives for, and holding personnel accountable for, increased sharing ofterrorism information, consistent with requirements of the Nation's security andwith applicable law, Executive Orders, and Presidential guidance.

Sec. 4. Requirements for Collection of Terrorism Information Inside theUnited States. (a) The Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, andthe Director of Central Intelligence shall, not later than 90 days after thedate of this order, jointly submit to the President, through the Assistants tothe President for National Security Affairs and Homeland Security, theirrecommendation on the establishment of executive branch-wide collection andsharing requirements, procedures, and guidelines for terrorism information to becollected within the United States, including, but not limited to, from publiclyavailable sources, including nongovernmental databases.

(b) The recommendation submitted under subsection (a) of this section shallalso:

(i) address requirements and guidelines for the collection and sharing ofother information necessary to protect the territory, people, and interests ofthe United States; and

(ii) propose arrangements for ensuring that officers of the United Stateswith responsibilities for protecting the territory, people, and interests of theUnited States are provided with clear, understandable, consistent, effective,and lawful procedures and guidelines for the collection, handling, distribution,and retention of information.

Sec. 5. Establishment of Information Systems Council. (a) There isestablished an Information Systems Council (Council), chaired by a designee ofthe Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and composed exclusively ofdesignees of: the Secretaries of State, the Treasury, Defense, Commerce, Energy,and Homeland Security; the Attorney General; the Director of CentralIntelligence; the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Directorof the National Counterterrorism Center, once that position is created andfilled (and until that time the Director of the Terrorism Threat IntegrationCenter); and such other heads of departments or agencies as the Director of theOffice of Management and Budget may designate.

(b) The mission of the Council is to plan for and oversee the establishmentof an interoperable terrorism information sharing environment to facilitateautomated sharing of terrorism information among appropriate agencies toimplement the policy set forth in section 1 of this order.

(c) Not later than 120 days after the date of this order, the Council shallreport to the President through the Assistants to the President for NationalSecurity Affairs and Homeland Security, on a plan, with proposed milestones,timetables for achieving those milestones, andentification of resources, forthe establishment of the proposed interoperable terrorism information sharingenvironment. The plan shall, at a minimum:

(i) describe and define the parameters of the proposed interoperableterrorism information sharing environment, including functions, capabilities,and resources;

(ii)entify and, as appropriate, recommend the consolidation andelimination of current programs, systems, and processes used by agencies toshare terrorism information, and recommend as appropriate the redirection ofexisting resources to support the interoperable terrorism information sharingenvironment;

(iii)entify gaps, if any, between existing technologies, programs, andsystems used by agencies to share terrorism information and the parameters ofthe proposed interoperable terrorism information sharing environment;

(iv) recommend near-term solutions to address any such gaps until theinteroperable terrorism information sharing environment can be established;

(v) recommend a plan for implementation of the interoperable terrorisminformation sharing environment, including roles and responsibilities, measuresof success, and deadlines for the development and implementation of functionsand capabilities from the initial stage to full operational capability;

(vi) recommend how the proposed interoperable terrorism information sharingenvironment can be extended to allow interchange of terrorism informationbetween agencies and appropriate authorities of States and local governments;and

(vii) recommend whether and how the interoperable terrorism informationsharing environment should be expanded, or designed so as to allow futureexpansion, for purposes of encompassing other categories of intelligence andinformation.

Sec. 6. Definitions. As used in this order:

(a) the term "agency" has the meaning set forth for the term"executive agency" in section 105 of title 5, United States Code,together with the Department of Homeland Security, but includes the Postal RateCommission and the United States Postal Service and excludes the GovernmentAccountability Office;

(b) the terms "Intelligence Community" and "agency within theIntelligence Community" have the meanings set forth for those terms insection 3.4(f) of Executive Order 12333 of December 4, 1981, as amended;

(c) the terms "local government," "State," and, when usedin a geographical sense, "United States," have the meanings set forthfor those terms in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.101); and

(d) the term "terrorism information" means all information, whethercollected, produced, or distributed by intelligence, law enforcement, military,homeland security, or other United States Government activities, relating to (i)the existence, organization, capabilities, plans, intentions, vulnerabilities,means of finance or material support, or activities of foreign or internationalterrorist groups or individuals, or of domestic groups or individuals involvedin transnational terrorism; (ii) threats posed by such groups or individuals tothe United States, United States persons, or United States interests, or tothose of other nations; (iii) communications of or by such groups orindividuals; or (iv) information relating to groups or individuals reasonablybelieved to be assisting or associated with such groups or individuals.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) This order:

(i) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law,including Federal law protecting the information privacy and other legal rightsof Americans, and subject to the availability of appropriations;

(ii) shall be implemented in a manner consistent with the authority of theprincipal officers of agencies as heads of their respective agencies, includingunder section 199 of the Revised

Statutes (22 U.S.C. 2651), section 201 of the Department of EnergyReorganization Act (42 U.S.C. 7131), section 102(a) of the National Security Actof 1947 (50 U.S.C. 403(a)), section 102(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002(6 U.S.C. 112(a)), and sections 301 of title 5, 113(b) and 162(b) of title 10,1501 of title 15, 503 of title 28, and 301(b) of title 31, United States Code;and (iii) shall not be construed to impair or otherwise affect the functions ofthe Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget,administrative, and legislative proposals.

(b) This order is intended only to improve the internal management of theFederal Government and is not intended to, and does not, create any rights orbenefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a partyagainst the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, orentities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

August 27, 2004.