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CUI Explorer

Operations Security

Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official.

Registry statusNARA & DoD
MarkingOPSEC
Organizational index groupIntelligence
Updated2026-05-15

This page exposes extracted CUI registry and authority analysis as crawlable text. The interactive explorer remains the operational workspace for filtering, comparison, and voice-agent aligned study.

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Registry comparison

Field NARA Registry DoD Registry
Category description Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official. Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official. NOTE: Information on your organization's Critical Information List (CIL) MAY BE CUI. It depends on what information is included in your document and how it is stated. To use the OPSEC category, the information must be on the CIL.
Category marking OPSEC OPSEC
Banner marking CUI No corresponding field
Basic or Specified Basic No corresponding field
Authorities NSPM 28 Not listed
DoD applicable policies No corresponding field DoDD 5205.02E, DoDM 5205.02
Required warning statement No corresponding field None listed
Required dissemination control CUI None listed
Examples No corresponding field Critical Information List (CIL), OPSEC planning, Risk assessment plan, Security classification guides
Registry date May 12, 2025 2026-05-15

Authority analysis

Authority title
Registry authority evidence compiled; primary authority text analysis pending
Authorities
NSPM 28
Source currency
NARA last reviewed: May 12, 2025 | DoD detail accessed: 2026-05-15
How the authority operates
NARA registry status: Basic. Per-authority NARA status values: Basic. NARA banner marking evidence: CUI. The registry evidence is preserved here; detailed primary-law or regulation text analysis remains pending for this category.

Trigger conditions

  • NARA category scope: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official.
  • DoD category scope: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official. NOTE: Information on your organization's Critical Information List (CIL) MAY BE CUI. It depends on what information is included in your document and how it is stated. To use the OPSEC category, the information must be on the CIL.

Covered information

  • Critical Information List (CIL)
  • OPSEC planning
  • Risk assessment plan
  • Security classification guides
  • Registry-described information: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official.
  • DoD-described information: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official. NOTE: Information on your organization's Critical Information List (CIL) MAY BE CUI. It depends on what information is included in your document and how it is stated. To use the OPSEC category, the information must be on the CIL.

Specified controls

Nara basic or specified
Basic
Nara authority rows
NSPM 28 | status: Basic | banner: CUI
Nara banner markings
CUI
Dod applicable policies
DoDD 5205.02E, DoDM 5205.02

Safeguarding and dissemination controls

NARA Registry
CUI
DoD Registry
None listed
Authority analysis
No DoD required dissemination control is listed on the registry page. Apply approved limited dissemination controls only when required or permitted by the designating agency or governing authority.
Basic or Specified
Use the registry assertions, NARA authority rows, DoD authorities, DoD policies, warning statements, required dissemination controls, and examples first. Where the cited authority does not specify a handling detail, apply CUI Basic safeguards and dissemination rules so long as they do not conflict with the authority or agency-specific controls.

Related authorities

Authority-by-authority detail

NSPM 28

Listed by: NARA Registry, Related authorities

Designation evidence

  • NARA authority row: NSPM 28 | status: Basic | banner: CUI.
  • Related authority evidence: NSPM 28 | status: Basic | banner: CUI

Extracted authority meaning

None listed

Operating conditions

  • NARA category scope used with this authority: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official.
  • NSPM 28 | status: Basic | banner: CUI
  • NARA registry status: Basic. Per-authority NARA status values: Basic. NARA banner marking evidence: CUI. The registry evidence is preserved here; detailed primary-law or regulation text analysis remains pending for this category.
  • NARA category scope: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program, or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official.
  • DoD category scope: Critical information determined to give evidence of the planning and execution of sensitive (frequently classified) government activities after going through a formal systematic vetting process in accordance with National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 28. This process identifies unclassified information that must be protected. It almost always results from an agency’s official OPSEC program or is otherwise commonly approved for use by the CUI Senior Agency Official. NOTE: Information on your organization's Critical Information List (CIL) MAY BE CUI. It depends on what information is included in your document and how it is stated. To use the OPSEC category, the information must be on the CIL.

Safeguarding and dissemination controls

  • NARA registry control evidence: status Basic; banner marking CUI.
  • Nara basic or specified: Basic
  • Nara authority rows: NSPM 28 | status: Basic | banner: CUI
  • Nara banner markings: CUI
  • Dod applicable policies: DoDD 5205.02E, DoDM 5205.02
  • No DoD required dissemination control is listed on the registry page. Apply approved limited dissemination controls only when required or permitted by the designating agency or governing authority.
  • Use the registry assertions, NARA authority rows, DoD authorities, DoD policies, warning statements, required dissemination controls, and examples first. Where the cited authority does not specify a handling detail, apply CUI Basic safeguards and dissemination rules so long as they do not conflict with the authority or agency-specific controls.

DoDD 5205.02E

Listed by: Related authorities

Designation evidence

  • Related authority evidence: DoD lists this applicable policy for the category; the linked policy text is extracted below when available.
  • HTTP 403
  • Registry designation for this category is Basic with banner CUI.

Extracted authority meaning

  • DoDD 5205.02E authority text
  • HTTP 403
  • Authority text extraction status: http_error (HTTP 403).

Operating conditions

  • DoD lists this applicable policy for the category; the linked policy text is extracted below when available.

Safeguarding and dissemination controls

None listed

DoDM 5205.02

Listed by: Related authorities

Designation evidence

  • Related authority evidence: DoD lists this applicable policy for the category; the linked policy text is extracted below when available.
  • HTTP 403
  • Registry designation for this category is Basic with banner CUI.

Extracted authority meaning

  • DoDM 5205.02 authority text
  • HTTP 403
  • Authority text extraction status: http_error (HTTP 403).

Operating conditions

  • DoD lists this applicable policy for the category; the linked policy text is extracted below when available.

Safeguarding and dissemination controls

None listed