299.7—Exempt records.
(a)
Records meeting the exemption criteria of 5 U.S.C. 552 need not be published in the Federal Register, made available in a reading room, or provided in response to requests made under 5 U.S.C. 552.
(b)
The first seven of the following nine FOIA exemptions may be used by the NSA/CSS to withhold information in whole or in part from public disclosure when there is a sound legal basis for protecting the information. Discretionary releases shall be made following careful Agency consideration of the interests involved.
(1)
Records specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and which are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order.
(3)
Records which concern matters that a statute specifically exempts from disclosure, so long as the statutory exemptions permit no discretion on what matters are exempt; or matters which meet criteria established for withholding by the statute, or which are particularly referred to by the statute as being matters to be withheld. Examples of such statutes are:
(4)
Records containing trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.
(5)
Interagency or intra-agency memoranda or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.
(6)
Personnel and medical files and similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
(7)
Investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records:
(iii)
Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of a living person, including surviving family members of an individual identified in such a record;
(iv)
Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a source within NSA/CSS, state, local, or foreign agency or authority, or any private institution which furnishes the information on a confidential basis, or could disclose information furnished from a confidential source and obtained by a criminal law enforcement authority in a criminal investigation or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation;
(v)
Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law; and
(8)
Records contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.
(c)
Information which has not been given a security classification pursuant to the criteria of an Executive Order, but which may be withheld from the public for one or more of FOIA exemptions 2 through 9 cited in paragraphs (b)(2) through (b)(9) of this section, shall be considered “UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY” (U//FOUO). No other material shall be considered or marked U//FOUO. The marking of appropriate records with the U//FOUO designation at the time of their creation provides notice of U//FOUO content and shall facilitate review when a record is requested under the FOIA. However, records requested under the FOIA which do not bear the U//FOUO designation shall not be assumed to be releaseable without examination for the presence of information that requires continued protection and qualifies as exempt from public release.