GOP lawmaker asks GAO to review overclassification

Hunter said that he wants the GAO to look at the degree to
which material is classified that doesn’t impact national security, whether
reducing classification requirements would winnow down the 5 million people who
current have security clearances and the degree to which excessive classification
harms information sharing.

{mosads}The government’s classification system is just one area
receiving renewed scrutiny from lawmakers in the wake of the NSA disclosures.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) last
week said she is
preparing to call hearings to look at how Snowden was able to access the
top-secret data he leaked to The Guardian
and The Washington Post.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) are holding a joint Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing Thursday on agencies’ vetting of government employees’ and contractors’ security clearances.

— This story was updated at 3:27 p.m.