More than half the money the government earmarked to safeguard state secrets last year went for information security, with nearly 90 percent of that was spent to protect IT systems against unauthorized access to or modification of information and the denial of service to authorized users, according to a report by the Information Security Oversight Office.

 

Part of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Information Security Oversight Office receives policy and program guidance from the National Security Council and is responsible to the president for policy and oversight of the governmentwide security classification system.

 

"A responsible and efficient security classification program requires commitment, diligence and integrity." Information Security Oversight Office Director William Bosanko wrote in a letter accompanying the report. "It is of particular importance that the classification system be implemented in a manner that makes for the most efficient and effective use of the finite resources available to departments and agencies."

 

New spending on personnel, security management and classification management nudged expenditures upward for the classified information system by 1.3 percent. In its report, the office said that the government spent more than $8.8 billion on security classification and declassification costs in fiscal 2009, including nearly $4.8 billion on information security.