a.61 Storage and custody of classified information.
18 C.F.R. § 3a.61
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) Unless specifically authorized by the Chairman or Executive Director, classified information and materials within the Washington office will be stored only in GSA-approved security containers in the Office of Administrative Operations. Such containers will be of steel construction with built-in, three-position, dial-type, manipulation-proof, changeable combination locks.
(b) A custodian and one or more alternate custodians will be assigned responsibility for the security of each container under his jurisdiction in which classified information is stored. Such assignment will be made a matter of record by executing GSA Optional Form 63, Classified Container Registration, and affixing it to the container concerned. Custodians will be responsible for assuring that combinations are changed as required and that locking and checking functions are accomplished daily in compliance with paragraphs (g) and (h) of this section.
(c) GSA Optional Form 63 is a 3-sheet form, each sheet having a specific purpose and disposition, as follows:
(1) Sheet 1 records the names, addresses, and home telephone numbers of the custodian and alternate custodians. Sheet 1 is affixed to the outside of the container.
(2) Sheet 2 records the combination of the container and is placed inside Sheet 3, which is an envelope.
(3) Sheet 3, an envelope, is a carbon copy of Sheet 1. When the container combination is recorded on Sheet 2, it is sealed inside Sheet 3 which is then forwarded to the FERC Top Secret Control Officer.
(d) GSA Optional Form 62, Safe or Cabinet Security Record, will be attached conspicuously to the outside of each container used to store classified information. The form is used to certify the opening and locking of a container, and the checking of a container at the end of each working day or whenever it is opened and locked during the day.
(e) Combinations of containers used to store classified materials will be assigned classifications equal to the highest category of classified information stored therein. Active combinations are subject to the safeguarding and receipting requirements of this instruction. Superseded combinations become declassified automatically and certificates of destruction therefore are unnecessary.
(f) Knowledge of or access to the combination of a container used for the storage of classified material will be given only to those appropriately cleared individuals who are authorized access to the information stored therein.
(g) Combinations of containers used to store classified material will be changed at least once a year. A combination will be changed also whenever anyone knowing or having access to it is transferred; when the combination has been subjected to compromise; when the security classification of the container is upgraded; and at any other time as may be deemed necessary. Combinations to locks on security containers will be changed only by individuals having a security clearance equal to the highest category of classified material stored therein. Changing lock combinations is a responsibility of OAO. (See FPC Special Instruction No. AM 2162.2, Periodic Change of Combination on Locks.)
(h) The individual who unlocks a container will indicate the date and time and initial entry on GSA Optional Form 62. At the close of each workday, or when the container is locked at earlier time, the individual locking the container will make the appropriate entry on GSA Optional Form 62. An individual other than the one who locked the container will check to insure that it is properly closed and locked and will make the appropriate entry on GSA Optional Form 62. When a container has not been opened during the day, the checker will enter the date and the notation “Not Opened” and make appropriate entry in the “Checked By” column.
(i) The red and white reversible “Closed-Open” cardboard sign will be used on all classified containers to indicate whether the container is open or locked.
(j) Typewriter ribbons used in the preparation of classified information will be safeguarded in the manner appropriate for the degree of classification involved. Cloth ribbons are considered insecure until both upper and lower lines have been cycled through the typewriter at least twice. Carbon paper or film ribbons are insecure at all times since the imprint thereon cannot be obliterated and such ribbon must be destroyed as classified waste. Insecure ribbons will not be left in typewriters overnight but will be stored in appropriate classified container.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-18.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026