The Staff Secretary, Staff Counsel, and Director of Freedom of Information of the National Security Council Staff are authorized to declassify NSC documents after consultation with the appropriate NSC Staff members.

(a) Receipt. (1) Requests for mandatory review for declassification under section 3-501 of Executive Order 12065 must be in writing and should be addressed to :

(2) The requestor shall be informed of the date of receipt of the request. This date will be the basis for the time limits specified in paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) If the request does not reasonably describe the information sought, the requestor shall be notified that, unless additional information is provided or the request is made more specific, no further action will be taken.

(b) Review. (1) The requestor shall be informed of the National Security Council Staff determination within sixty days of receipt of the initial request.

(2) If the determination is to withhold some or all of the material requested, the requestor may appeal the determination. The requestor shall be informed that such an appeal must be made in writing within sixty days of receipt of the denial and should be addressed to the chairperson of the National Security Council Classification Review Committee.

(3) The requestor shall be informed of the appellate determination within thirty days of receipt of the appeal.

(c) Fees. (1) Fees for the location and reproduction of information that is the subject of a mandatory review request shall be assessed according to the following schedule:

(i) Search for records. $5.00 per hour when the search is conducted by a clerical employee; $8.00 per hour when the search is conducted by a professional employee. No fee shall be assessed for searches of less than one hour.

(ii) Reproduction of documents. Documents will be reproduced at a rate of $.25 per page for all copying of four pages or more. No fee shall be assessed for reproducing documents that are three pages or less, or for the first three pages of longer documents.

(2) Where it is anticipated that the fees chargeable under this section will amount to more than $25, and the requestor has not indicated in advance a willingness to pay fees as high as are anticipated, the requestor shall be promptly notified of the amount of the anticipated fee or such portion thereof as can readily be estimated. In instances where the estimated fees will greatly exceed $25, an advance deposit may be required. Dispatch of such a notice or request shall suspend the running of the period for response by the NSC Staff until a reply is received from the requestor.

(3) Remittances shall be in the form either of a personal check or bank draft drawn on a bank in the United States, or a postal money order. Remittances shall be made payable to the Treasury of the United States and mailed to the Staff Secretary, National Security Council, Washington, DC 20506.

(4) [Reserved]

(5) A receipt for fees paid will be given only upon request. Refund of fees paid for services actually rendered will not be made.

(6) If a requestor fails to pay within thirty days for services rendered, further action on any other requests submitted by that requestor shall be suspended.

(7) The Staff Secretary, National Security Council may waive all or part of any fee provided for in this section when it is deemed to be in either the interest of the NSC Staff or of the general public.

The Staff Secretary, Staff Counsel, and Director of Freedom of Information of the National Security Council Staff are authorized to downgrade NSC documents, after consultation with the appropriate NSC Staff members.