# Information Security Oversight Office **Status: stub — expand.** The **Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)** sits inside the [[National Archives]] and is the government-wide overseer of the classification system established by [[Executive Order 13526]]. Its Director is appointed by the Archivist of the United States with the approval of the President — so the overseer's appointment runs through the same office whose authority is being overseen. The Director is **Michael D. Thomas**. ISOO issues the implementing directives for the classification system, conducts on-site compliance reviews of agency programs, receives complaints, administers the parallel Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) program as executive agent, and files an **annual report to the President** on the state of the system. The Director also serves ex officio as Executive Secretary of the [[Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel]]. ## Why it matters here ISOO's annual reports are the only government-wide count of how large the classification system is — how many original classification authorities exist, how many pages move through each declassification route, and how many staff work on declassification. ISOO itself cautions that the cost figures agencies report to it use inconsistent methods and are likely unreliable. ## See also - [[How Information Is Classified and Declassified]] — the full flow ISOO oversees - [[Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel]] · [[National Declassification Center]] · [[National Archives]] - [[Executive Order 13526]] · [[How a Security Clearance Is Granted and Revoked]] - [[Federal Agencies Hub]]