document is not to be downgraded or declassified automatically, shall be carried forward from the source document, or as directed by a classification guide, and shown on the "declassify on" or an additional line "downgrade to".

(c) Special markings. (1) Transmittal documents. A transmittal document shall indicate on its face the highest classification of any information transmitted by it. It shall also include the following instruction:

For an unclassified transmittal document, the marking "unclassified when classified enclosure is removed" shall be used on the bottom of the last page.

(2) Information marked "Restricted Data" or "Formerly Restricted Data" in accordance with regulations issued under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, shall be handled, protected, classified, downgraded, and declassified in conformity with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

(3) Derivatively classified documents that contain information from a source document relating to intelligence sources or methods shall include the marking "warning notice-intelligence sources or methods involved" on the bottom of the first and last pages unless otherwise prescribed by the Director of Central Intelligence.

(4) Foreign government information. Documents that contain foreign government information shall include the marking "foreign government information" on the bottom of the first and last pages of the documents. If the fact that information is foreign government information must be concealed, the marking shall not be used and the derivatively classified document shall be marked as if it were wholly of U.S. origin.

(5) Information classified under predecessor Orders on source documents shall be considered as classified at that level of classification despite the omission of other required markings. The same classification shall be applied to the derivatively classified document.

(6) Change in classification marking. When the original classifier of a source document notifies the appropriate USDA employee, as the holder of a copy of the source document, that a

change in the duration of the classified information and/or a change in the level of classification is being made, the USDA employee shall line through the old markings to conform to the change. The authority for the action and date shall be conspicuously marked on the bottom of the first page of the document to indicate the change.

(d) Prohibitive markings or classification. Markings such as "For Official Use Only" or "Limited Official Use" shall not be used to identify national security information. No other term or phrase shall be used in conjunction with these designations, such as "Secret Sensitive" or "Agency Confidential" to identify national security information.

$10.6 Declassification.

(a) Information shall remain classified for as long as is required by national security considerations. When it can be determined, a specific date or event for declassification shall be set by the original classification authority at the time the information is originally classified.

(b) Information classified under predecessor Orders that is not subject to automatic declassification or that is marked for review before declassification shall remain classified until reviewed for declassification.

(c) Automatic declassification determinations under predecessor Orders shall remain valid unless the classification is extended by an authorized official of the originating Agency. Authority to extend the classification of information subject to automatic declassification under predecessor Orders is limited to those officials who have original classification authority at the level of the information to remain classified or by the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office.

(d) Whenever the appropriate USDA employee is notified by an authorized official from the Agency with original classification authority that change has been made in the original classification or in the dates of downgrading or declassification of any classified information, the USDA employee shall promptly and conspicuously mark both the copy of the source document and

and a notice of the right to appeal the determination to the Department Review Committee. Such an appeal must be submitted in writing within sixty (60) days.

(6) If no determination has been made at the end of sixty (60) days from receipt of the initial request for review, the requester may appeal to the Assistant Secretary for Administration for a determination.

(b) Processing requirements. (1) Requests for mandatory declassification review may be directed to the Department Security Officer, Office of Personnel, Administration Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250. The Security Officer shall, in turn, refer the request to the appropriate USDA Agency Head for action.

(2) A valid request must be in writing and reasonably describe the information sought to enable the USDA Agency to identify it.

(3) The USDA Agency shall notify the requester if the request does not identify sufficiently the information sought. The requester shall then be given an opportunity to provide additional information to describe the information with particularity enabling identification of the requested mate

rial.

(4) If within thirty (30) days after the notification is mailed the requester does not describe the information sought with sufficient particularity, the USDA Agency shall notify the requester why no action will be taken on the request.

(5) Search and duplication fees will be charged pursuant to the provisions of the Department's Fee Schedule, appendix A, to part 1 of this title. The requester shall be notified of the approximate cost of the search and duplication costs before the search is conducted.

(c) Processing requests. Requests that meet the foregoing requirements for processing shall be processed as follows:

(1) The USDA Agency shall immediately acknowledge receipt of the request in writing.

(2) The USDA Agency shall make a determination within ten (10) working days or shall explain to the requester why additional time is necessary. In no

case shall the response time for a final determination exceed one (1) year from the date of receipt of the initial request.

(3) When another Agency forwards to the Department Security Officer a request for information in that Agency's custody that has been classified by USDA, the Department Security Officer shall process the request in accordance with the requirements of this section, respond directly to the requester and, if so requested, shall notify the referring Agency of the determination made on the request.

(4) Requests for classified information containing foreign government information may necessitate consultations with other agencies and/or with the foreign originator of the information prior to final action of the request.

$10.9 Mandatory review for derivatively classified documents.

(a) Requests for mandatory review for USDA derivatively classified documents shall be processed by the Department Security Officer under the following procedures:

(1) The Department Security Officer shall contact the Agency responsible for orginally classifying the source document for a declassification determination.

(2) If the Agency determines that the originally classified document has been declassified, the Department Security Officer shall so mark the USDA derivatively classified document and release it to the requester.

(3) If the originally classified document has not been declassified, the Department Security Officer shall so notify the requester.

§ 10.10 Appeals.

(a) Appeals from denial of declassification and release of information shall be directed to the Department Review Committee, Administration Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250.

(b) Appeals shall be reviewed and decided within thirty (30) working days of their receipt as follows:

(1) If the documents are declassified in their entirety, the Department Se

curity Office shall forward the documents to the requester.

(2)(i) If the documents are not declassified and released in their entirety, the chairman, Department Review Committee, shall forward a letter of denial to the requester notifying the requester of the decision and a statement of justification for the denial.

(ii) If the decision of the committee is to declassify or release a portion of the documents, the chairman of the committee shall forward a letter of partial denial to the requester. The letter shall include a statement of justification for the partial denial. Those portions of the documents which have been declassified shall be forwarded to the requester.

(a) This part sets forth the terms and conditions under which a person who produces an agricultural commodity on highly erodible land or designates such land for conservation use, plants an agricultural commodity on a converted wetland, or converts a wetland shall be determined to be ineligible for certain benefits provided by the United States Department of Agriculture and agencies and instrumentalities of the Department.

(b) The purpose of the provisions of this part are to remove certain incentives for persons to produce agricultural commodities on highly erodible land or converted wetland and to thereby

(1) Reduce soil loss due to wind and water erosion,

(2) Protect the Nation's long term capability to produce food and fiber,

(3) Reduce sedimentation and improve water quality,

(4) Assist in preserving the Nation's wetlands, and

(5) Curb production of surplus commodities.

[52 FR 35200, Sept. 17, 1987; 53 FR 3999, Feb. 11, 1988, as amended at 56 FR 18635, Apr. 23, 1991; 56 FR 23735, May 23, 1991]

§ 12.2 Definitions.

(a) The following definitions shall be applicable for the purposes of this part:

(1) Agricultural commodity means any crop planted, and produced by annual tilling of the soil, including tilling by one-trip planters or sugarcane.

(2) ASCS means the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture which is generally responsible for administering commodity production adjustment and certain conservation programs of the Depart

ment.

(3) Conservation District (CD) means a subdivision of a State or local government organized pursuant to the applicable law to develop and implement soil and water conservation activities or programs.

(4) Conservation plan means the document containing the decisions of a person with respect to the location, land use, tillage systems and conservation treatment measures and schedule which, if approved, must be or have been established on highly erodible cropland in order to control erosion on such land.

(5) Conservation system means the part of a cropland resource management system applied to a field or group of fields that provides for cost effective and practical erosion reduction based upon the standards contained in the SCS field office technical guide. A conservation system may include a single practice or a combination of practices.

(6) Converted wetland means wetland that has been drained, dredged, filled, leveled, or otherwise manipulated (including any activity that results in impairing or reducing the flow, circulation, or reach of water) that makes possible the production of an agricultural commodity without further application of the manipulations described herein if (i) such production would not have been possible but for such action; and (ii), before such action such land was wetland and was neither highly erodible land nor highly erodible cropland.

(7) Conservation use or set aside means cropland that is designated as conservation use acreage, set aside or other similar designation for the purpose of fulfilling any provisions under any acreage limitation or land diversion program administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, requiring that the producer devote a specified acreage to conservation or other non-crop production uses.

(8) CCC means the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wholly-owned government corporation within the United States Department of Agriculture organized under the provisions of 15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.

(9) Department means the United States Department of Agriculture.

(10) Erodibility index means a numerical value that expresses the potential erodibility of a soil in relation to its soil loss tolerance value without consideration of applied conservation practices or management.

(11) ES means the Extension Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture which is generally responsible for coordinating the information and educational programs of the Department.

(12) FmHA means the Farmers Home Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture which is generally responsible for providing farm loans and loan guarantees under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.) and other laws.

(13) FCIC means the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, a wholly-owned government corporation within the United States Department of Agriculture organized under the provision of 7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.

(14) Field means a part of a farm which is separated from the balance of the farm by permanent boundaries such as fences, roads, permanent waterways, woodlands, croplines (in cases where farming practices make it probable that such cropline is not subject to change) or other similar features.

(15) Highly erodible land means land that has an erodibility index of 8 or more.

(16) Hydric soils means soils that, in an undrained condition, are saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during a growing season to develop an anaerobic condition that supports the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation.

(17) Hydrophytic vegetation means plants growing in water or in a substrate that is at least periodically deficient in oxygen during a growing season as a result of excessive water content.

(18) Landlord means a person who rents or leases farmland to another person.

(19) Local ASCS office means the county office of the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service serving the county or a combination of counties in the area in which a person's land is located for administrative purposes.

(20) Operator means the person who is in general control of the farming operations on the farm during the crop year.