# Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel **Status: stub — expand.** The **Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP)** is the only body outside an originating agency that a member of the public can reach on a classification question. It was created by Executive Order 12958 in 1995, held its first meeting in May 1996, and now operates under [[Executive Order 13526]]. Its members are senior representatives of the Departments of State, Defense and Justice, the [[National Archives]], [[ODNI]], and the National Security Advisor. The CIA Director may appoint a temporary representative when an appeal concerns [[CIA]] information. The chair is designated by the President from among the members. The Director of the [[Information Security Oversight Office]] serves as Executive Secretary. ## Jurisdiction — three things, and only three - Appeals of **classification challenges** brought by authorized holders under section 1.8 - Appeals of denied **mandatory declassification review** requests under section 3.5 - Agency requests to **exempt** information from automatic declassification under section 3.3 An ISCAP declassification ruling binds the whole executive branch and is appealable to the President and to no one else — no court, no other body. That makes the Panel the terminus of the appeal spine for three of the four exits from classification. ## The 2026 reform More than **1,200 appeals** were pending as of August 2026, and ISOO reported that more than half the docket came from agencies that had missed their own deadlines for responding to appellants. ISOO Notice 2026-05, signed 17 August 2026, introduced precedent-setting case selection, batched decisions, votes on remanding missed-deadline cases back to agencies, and a requirement that agencies fold ISCAP precedent into their own classification guides, verified by ISOO compliance inspections. On 11 September 2026 the Panel released newly declassified 9/11 Commission records on appeals 2022-008 and 2023-001, timed to the 25th anniversary. ## See also - [[How Information Is Classified and Declassified]] — the appeal spine in context - [[Information Security Oversight Office]] · [[National Declassification Center]] · [[National Archives]] - [[Executive Order 13526]] · [[Freedom of Information Act]] - [[Federal Agencies Hub]]