CHAPTER IV
DOCUMENTS SECURITY
INTRODUCTION:
The application of this chapter will be based on the following main
principles:
1. It is essential that some official information be given top
protection in order to safeguard the capability of the nation to protect
itself against all hostile and destructive actions.
2. It is also essential that the citizens of the nation be informed
as much as possible on the activities of the government.
3. This chapter should not be interpreted in any way as trying to
withhold information that otherwise could be publicly disseminated.
GENERAL:
A. DEFINITION OF DOCUMENT SECURITY: The degree of protection given to
certain official information for the safekeeping of the nation's capability to
protect itself against hostile or destructive actions.
B. All personnel must be aware that the above-mentioned principles are the
fundamental factors that govern military security and must be deeply
indoctrinated so as to be inherent with the routine performance of their
tasks.
C. ORGANIZATION:
1. Categories of Classification
a. The official information requiring protection in the
interest of national defense will be limited to three categories of
classification, which are, in order of importance, TOP SECRET, SECRET and
CONFIDENTIAL. No other designations shall be used to classify information of
national defense.
2. Other Definitions
a. Information of Defense. It pertains the official information
that requires protection in the interest of national defense that is not of
common knowledge, y which could be valuable military information for a
potential enemy, to plan or sustain war or insurgency against us or our
allies.
b. Classified Material. It is the official information which
has been classified and marked with one of the categories mentioned above.
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c. Access to Classified Material. It allows access to
classified material only to those persons authorized to work with classified
information and need to know such information to be able to accomplish their
official duties.
d. Custody. Is the person in possession or that has the
responsibility of protecting and accounting for classified material.
e. Inventory. It is the procedure used to account for
classified material by control of entry and record of the document, or entry
of destruction record, or by signed receipts.
f. Document. Is any recorded information, without considering
its form or characteristics, and includes, without being limited to, the
following:
(1) Handwritten, typewritten or printed material.
(2) All drawn, painted or engraved material.
(3) All sound recordings, voices, tapes or records.
(4) All types of photographs and films, in negatives or
processed, fixed or in motion.
g. Authority for Derived Classification: It is the authority to
classify material as a result of being connected to, or in response to other
material related to the same subject of an already classified material.
h. Material: Means any document, product or substance, on or
within which information can be recorded or included.
i. Properly authorized person: It is a person who has been
authorized to work with classified information, according to the established
norms.
3. TOP SECRET Information. Top Secret classification is limited to
the information of defense or material that require the highest degree of
protection. TOP SECRET information will be applicable only to that kind of
information or material that is extremely important for defense, and the
unauthorized disclosure of which would result in serious danger for the
nation, as for example:
a. Definite severance of diplomatic relationships, that would
damage the defense of the nation; [leading) to an armed attack against them or
their allies or to a war.
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b. Compromise the military defense plans, or the operations of
military intelligence, or technical or scientific developments vital for the
national defense.
c. As examples of this type of information, there are:
(1) A strategic plan that documents the complete
operations of war.
(2) The documents for war planning.
(3) Plan of operations for an independent operation, or
for a series of coordinated operations.
(4) Documents of military intelligence containing complete
information of a nature that would reveal a big effort of military
intelligence activities by the nation, and that would enable unauthorized
persons to evaluate the success obtained by the military intelligence services
of the nation.
(5) Plans or programs to carry out operations of military
intelligence, or other special operations, when the knowledge of a particular
plan, program or operation would result extremely damaging for the nation.
(6) Important information regarding equipment (war
materiel) extremely important and radically new, whose technical development
constitute vital information for the defense of the nation.
4. SECRET Information. The use of SECRET classification will be
limited to defense or material information whose unauthorized dissemination
could result in serious damage for the nation, such as:
a. Jeopardize international relations of the country.
b. Endanger the effectiveness of a program or policy vitally
important for the national defense.
c. Compromises important military plans for the defense or the
technical development for the national defense.
d. Reveals important operations of military intelligence.
e. Examples of this type of information are:
(1) A war plan or a complete plan for a future war
operation not included under the TOP SECRET classification, and documents that
indicate the disposition of our forces, whose unauthorized publication, by
itself, could compromise such secret plans.
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(2) Defense plans and other military plans not included
under the TOP SECRET classification, or in the previous paragraph, that
contain plans and development programs or acquisitions, although they do not
necessary include all the emergency plans.
(3) Specific intelligence that, by itself, could reveal
the military capability of degree of preparation of the Armed Forces, but does
not include information whose unauthorized disclosure could compromise a TOP
SECRET plan.
(4) Intelligence that reveals the strength of our forces
involved in war operations; quantity or quality of equipment, or the quantity
or composition of the units in a theater of operations or other geographic
area where our forces might be involved in war operations. During peacetime,
the information that would reveal the strength, identify, composition or
situation of units usually would not require SECRET classification.
(5) Military intelligence or other information whose value
depends on concealing the fact that the nations possesses it.
(6) Details or specific information related to new
material, or modification of material that reveal important military advances,
or new technical development that has direct application of vital importance
for the national defense.
(7) Security measure for communication or cryptographic
material that reveals vitally important information for the national defense.
(8) Intelligence of vital importance for the national
defense, with regard to amounts of war reserves.
f. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. The use of CONFIDENTIAL
classification will be limited to defense information and to the material
whose unauthorized disclosure could be damaging to the interests of the
national defense. As examples of this type of material, there are:
(1) Reports of operations and battles that might have
valuable information for the enemy (The Essential Elements of Friendly
Information).
(2) Reports that contain military intelligence, no matter
what type of information.
(3) Frequencies of military radios and call signals that
have special meaning assigned, or those that are frequently changed because of
security reasons.
(4) Devices and material related to the communications
security.
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(5) Information that indicates the assets of our ground,
sea and air forces in national territory or abroad, or the composition of the
units, or que quantity of specific equipment units that belong to them. During
peace time a defense classification is not necessary unless such information
reflects the numbers of the total assets or quantity of weapons whose
characteristics are themselves classified.
(6) The documents or manuals that contain technical
information used for training, maintenance or inspection of classified war
material.
(7) Doctrine of tactical or technical operations.
(8) The investigation, development, production and
acquisition of war materiel.
f. Handling of classified documents
(1) Protection of classified material in the hands of
persons that are travelling.
(a) A person receiving travel orders, and who is
authorized to carry classified material, will protect such material by the
following methods:
1- He will contact his commander in order to
obtain, if available, the corresponding means of protection, according to the
particular classification of the material, or;
2- Will keep the material under his personal
control continuously. It is the responsibility of the carrier of classified
material to use his best judgement for his actions, in order to avoid risky
situations that might compromise the classified material.
(b) The personnel on travel mission will not carry
classified material when crossing international borders where the classified
material might be subject to scrutiny by Customs inspectors or other
"unauthorized" persons. Such material, when forwarded previously by diplomatic
pouch or by mail, will not encounter any obstacles on its way.
(2) Covers of classified material.
The cover of classified material is used to call the
attention of the personnel handling it, to the fact that it is a classified
document, and to protect it against unauthorized scrutiny. The cover shall
have the stamp identifying the classification of the document.
(3) Destruction in case of emergency.
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(a) Plans
The commanders and chiefs that are responsible
for the protection of classified material will make formal plans for the
destruction or safe transfer of all classified material under its
jurisdiction, in case of civilian disturbance, disaster, or enemy action.
(b) On board aircraft or ships
If the aircraft carrying classified material is
forced to land, or a ship runs aground in unfriendly or neutral territory
where capture seems imminent, or in other circumstances when it appears that
the material should be destroyed so as not to be recognized, it is preferable
to burn it or destroy it in a way that will not be recognizable.
(4) Security of the typewriter ribbons: The typewriter
ribbons, whether made of cotton, rayon, paper, or silk, which are used to
write classified information are not safe until they have been written over
twice. Presently, many of the ribbons for typewriter machines can only be used
once, therefore have in mind that the impression of letters remain in the
ribbons and these are significantly valuable for the enemy as is the paper in
which the information was typed. These ribbons should be protected
accordingly.
(5) Classified trash: Trash such as drafts, minutes,
notes, dictaphone recordings, or other recordings, typewriter ribbons, carbon
paper, rolls of film, and similar articles, containing information of national
defense, shall be protected by a responsible person, according to their
classification, until they can be destroyed in an orderly fashion the same as
for material of similar classification. It is necessary to have a certificate
of destruction.
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