D.16.4 - Leadership protection

Leadership protection involves all activities performed to protect the health and well being of the president, vice-president, their families, and other high-level government officials.

Some leadership protection information may be classified. All classified information is treated under separate rules established for national security information and is outside the scope of this guideline. The recommended provisional categorization for unclassified leadership protection information follows:

Security category

D.16.4 - Leadership protection = {(confidentiality, Moderate), (integrity, Low), (availability, Low)}

Confidentiality Moderate

The confidentiality impact level is the effect of unauthorized disclosure of leadership protection information on the abilities of responsible agencies to protect the health and well being of the president, vice-president, their families, and other high-level government officials. The consequences of unauthorized disclosure of most leadership protection information are not directly life-threatening but can have serious consequences. Special Factors Affecting Confidentiality Impact Determination: For the unauthorized disclosure of information that can facilitate efforts to assassinate Federal leadership, the consequences not only pose a threat to human life, but can also have a disruptive effect on the continuity of Federal government operations. In such cases, the confidentiality impact level is high. Recommended Confidentiality Impact Level: Given the nature of most leadership protection information, the provisional confidentiality impact level recommended for the information is moderate.

Integrity Low

The integrity impact level is based on the specific mission and the data supporting that mission, not on the time required to detect the modification or destruction of information. That is, the consequences of unauthorized modification or destruction of leadership protection information may be determined by the specific operation(s) supported by the information. In addition, the consequences may depend on the urgency with which the intelligence information is needed. Special Factors Affecting Integrity Impact Determination: In the case of Secret Service operations, unauthorized modification or destruction of information affecting leadership protection information may adversely affect mission operations in a manner that results in loss of human life and disruption of government operations. In such cases, the integrity impact level is high. Recommended Integrity Impact Level: The provisional integrity impact level recommended for most leadership protection information is low.

Availability Low

The availability impact level is based on the specific mission and the data supporting that mission, not on the time required to re-establish access to leadership protection information. Special Factors Affecting Integrity Impact Determination: In the case of Secret Service operations, missions supported by leadership protection information are not tolerant of delays with resultant catastrophic consequences for mission capability and human life. In such cases, the availability impact level is high. Recommended Availability Impact Level: The provisional availability impact level recommended for most leadership protection information is low.