Declassification Appeals Panel Targets 1,200-Case Backlog

WASHINGTON — The Information Security Oversight Office has issued new procedures for the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, the body that makes final rulings on whether classified information stays secret. ISOO Director Michael D. Thomas signed Notice 2026-05 on Aug. 17. It lets the panel send stalled appeals back to the agencies that missed their deadlines, and it requires agencies to write the panel’s rulings into their classification guides.

The panel, known as ISCAP, has more than 1,200 appeals awaiting a decision, according to Thomas. He wrote that more than half of that docket exists because an agency missed its deadline for an initial response or a final decision.

A backlog reaching back to 2008

ISCAP is created by Executive Order 13526. It hears appeals from members of the public who filed mandatory declassification review requests and were turned down, or who never got an answer. It also hears classification challenges filed by government employees. ISOO describes the panel as the “court of last resort” for these cases. Its declassification rulings bind the whole government and can be appealed only to the President.

The panel’s published appeals log, labeled first quarter 2026, lists about 1,250 dated appeals. The oldest, ISCAP No. 2008-026, was filed in July 2008 and concerns FBI records. Of the dated entries, 667 were filed in 2016 or earlier. The log marks 442 appeals as “Materials Requested from Agency,” meaning the panel is still waiting on the agency’s records. The log’s status column carries an update date of Jan. 7, 2025.

Missed deadlines now trigger a remand

Under the existing rules, a requester can go straight to ISCAP in three situations: the agency issues a final denial; the agency does not answer an internal appeal within 180 days; or the agency does not make an initial decision within one year. The new notice keeps those routes. It adds a step for the last two.

The panel will now review pending appeals periodically to find cases where the agency never ruled. It may vote to remand those cases to the agency for “expedited review.” A remanded case stays on the ISCAP docket and is marked as returned. ISCAP staff must notify the agency within 30 days of the vote.

The agency then gets a fresh clock:

One year from notification to make an initial decision, if the case came to ISCAP because the agency missed the one-year mark.
180 days from notification to make a final decision, if the agency missed the 180-day appeal deadline.
Thirty extra days in each case to cover the notification window.

The notice also tightens the intake process. ISCAP staff must request an agency’s materials within 30 days of receiving an appeal. The agency then has 60 days to provide them, or to explain the delay and give a date.

Rulings become binding precedent

The second half of the notice deals with what happens after the panel rules. Agencies must update their classification and declassification guides to match ISCAP decisions. They must apply those decisions to their own reviews, including future mandatory review requests. They must also tell the panel about other pending cases a new ruling might affect.

The notice states that an agency guide setting a fixed period of secrecy “is not binding on future ISCAP decisions.” Thomas wrote that panel staff will require agencies to confirm they have incorporated precedents. Staff will also coordinate with ISOO’s on-site inspection teams to check agency guidance. Requesters with pending cases may notify the panel and the agency if they believe an earlier ruling applies to them.

What ISOO says the change is for

Thomas described the notice as bringing “critical, long-called-for reforms” to the panel. He wrote that appeals will be screened for precedent-setting opportunities, so one decision on a category of information can resolve several cases at once. “Every case before the ISCAP deserves a decision, rendered as promptly and expansively as possible,” Thomas wrote.

Background

The notice builds on the panel’s bylaws at 32 CFR Part 2003, which already allowed ISCAP to remand cases. The notice cites those provisions as its authority. It was ISOO’s fifth notice of 2026.

The panel’s most recent public ruling came on Sept. 11. ISCAP released a 9/11 Commission summary of President’s Daily Briefs and 11 commission interview memos, deciding appeals 2022-008 and 2023-001. Declassified Now covered that release. ISOO’s announcement of the 9/11 ruling did not mention the new procedures.

What’s next: The notice does not set a date for the first remand votes. ISOO has not published an updated appeals log since the notice took effect.

Filed under: National Archives / Information Security Oversight Office