The Department of Defense has submitted a legislative proposal to Congress seeking new authority to withhold "controlled unclassified information" (CUI) from public disclosure. Under the proposed measure, the Secretary of Defense would be permitted to exempt records from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) if the military determines they concern national defense vulnerabilities and that the harm of disclosure outweighs the public interest.
Pentagon officials stated the proposal aims to protect sensitive military information from foreign adversaries and ensure uniform protection for national security interests. Acting Pentagon press secretary Joe Valdez said the measure would provide more "consistent withholding decisions" for information that implicates national security. The proposal would also prevent state and local governments from releasing covered records under their own open records laws.
Transparency advocates and legal experts have raised concerns regarding the potential for reduced government oversight. Critics, including representatives from the ACLU and the Project on Government Oversight, argued that the executive branch already faces issues with overclassification. They noted that CUI was originally designed as an administrative marking for safeguarding data rather than a legal basis for withholding it from the public.
The Pentagon's request comes as its FOIA backlog grew by 42% in the 2025 fiscal year, totaling over 30,000 pending requests. While the proposal was sent to Congress in late June for potential inclusion in annual defense legislation, it remains unclear if lawmakers will adopt the language, as both the House and Senate have already completed initial markups of the year's defense policy bill.