10 C.F.R. § 1045.175 – How must agencies process FOIA and MDR requests for matter that is marked as or potentially contains RD, FRD, or TFNI?

(a) When an agency receives a FOIA or MDR request for which any responsive matter is marked as or potentially contains RD, FRD, or TFNI, the agency must forward the matter to the appropriate agency as follows:
1. (1) Forward any matter marked as or potentially containing RD or TFNI to the Director, Office of Classification or a DOE official granted authority by delegation, regulation, or DOE directive.
2. (2) Forward any matter originated by DOE and marked as or potentially containing FRD to either the Director, Office of Classification or a DOE official granted authority by delegation, regulation, or DOE directive. Forward any matter originated by DoD and marked as or potentially containing FRD to the appropriate DoD program (as specified in DoD Manual 5400.07, DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program, subsequent manuals, or other applicable manuals). Matter not originated by DOE or DoD may be submitted to either agency as provided in this paragraph.
(b) DOE and DoD must coordinate the review of matter marked as or potentially containing RD and FRD, when appropriate. DOE and the DNI must coordinate the review of matter marked as or potentially containing TFNI, when appropriate.
(c) DOE, DoD, or the DNI may refuse to confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of the requested matter whenever the fact of its existence or nonexistence is itself classified as RD, FRD, or TFNI.
(d) If the information contained in the requested matter has been reviewed for declassification within the past 2 years, another review need not be conducted, but instead the agency may inform the requester of this fact and of the results of the prior review decision.
(e) When paragraph (c) or (d) of this section do not apply, and the information requested under an MDR is not exempt under § 1045.195, the appropriate DOE or DoD authority must conduct a line-by-line review of matter forwarded under paragraph (a) of this section; identify the information that is classified under current classification guidance as RD, FRD, or TFNI; and respond to the agency that forwarded the matter. The response to the agency who forwarded the request must identify the RD, FRD, or TFNI that is exempt from public release; provide the FOIA exemption or appropriate MDR notation for the RD, FRD, or TFNI withheld; identify the Denying Official for the RD, FRD, or TFNI withheld; and explain the applicable appeal procedures for a FOIA request identified in 10 CFR 1004.8 or for an MDR request identified in § 1045.180.
1. (1) The Denying Officials are as follows:
  1. (i) The Denying Official for matter containing RD or TFNI is the Director, Office of Classification.
  2. (ii) The Denying Official for matter containing FRD is the Director, Office of Classification, or the appropriate DoD Component's Initial Denying Authority (as specified in applicable DoD manuals).
  3. (iii) The Denying Official for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information is the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Deputy Director, Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors.
(f) Upon receipt of the response from DOE or DOD, the agency processing the initial request must inform the requester of the results of the review; provide the name of the Denying Official identified for any RD, FRD, or TFNI withheld; and advise the requester of his or her appeal rights concerning the RD, FRD, or TFNI.