Stay Informed

What is Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and how do I protect it?

Rules of Thumb:

1. PII is a subset of CUI
2. Privacy Act protected material is a subset of CUI (e.g., grades, graded material, what civilian colleges refer to as FERPA information or education records)
3. USMA researchers should discuss with their research sponsors whether the research work product(s) are CUI (or not) (e.g., Controlled Technical Information and/or Distribution Statements)
4. CUI is NOT classification, it is marking and control designation for unclassified information that generators or possessors should safeguard and/or control dissemination. The CUI label must align to a law, regulation, or government-wide policy requiring safeguarding and/or dissemination controls. In other words, don’t over label information as CUI.
5. Use the newly activated marking choices in Outlook for marking emails (the current configuration defaults to Unclassified)
   1. Label material approved for public release as ‘Public’ (e.g., PAO approval, Department public review process approved, research sponsor approved, information that has no requirement for safeguarding nor dissemination controls)
   2. Label material ‘CUI’ if the label aligns to a law, regulation, or government-wide policy requiring safeguarding and/or dissemination controls.
   3. Label material Unclassified if the other two labels don’t fit
   4. Use DoD Common Access Card to encrypt CUI email when ending to .gov and .mil email addressees
   5. Mark documents in accordance with the Appendices of USMA OPORD 2021-055: Email Labeling (Public, Unclassified, Controlled Unclassified Information)

More Information:

• See also West Point OPORD 2021-055 (Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)) [which is Unclassified and not public]
• See also USMA G2 for individual assistance and for scheduling group training
• EO 13556 and National Archives run the US Government CUI program
• DoD G2 published DoDI 5200.48 CUI in August 2020
• There are 100+ CUI Categories, start small and simple.
• See also USMA Policy 25-22 Privacy