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Home ›› Submit ›› Submission Basics ››

Protected STI

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is information the government creates or possesses, or that an entity creates or possesses for or behalf of the government, that a law, regulation, or government-wide policy (LRGWP) requires or permits an agency to handle using safeguarding or dissemination controls. Other types of information have restrictions on their handling such as certain copyrighted material. However, regardless of the control marking, all STI is to be submitted to OSTI through appropriate applications.

The Energy Link (E-Link (link is external)) has built-in encryption that will protect the submission of controlled unclassified STI. Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information and Classified are to be submitted via other methods, see AN 241.5.

The DOE CUI Order (DOE O 471.7, Controlled Unclassified Information (link is external)) was released in February 2022 and cancels/supersedes OUO directives: DOE Order (O) 471.3 Chg. 1, Identifying and Protecting Official Use Only Information and DOE Manual (M) 471.3-1 Chg. 1, Manual for Identifying and Protecting Official Use Only Information.

CUI Markings

Controlled unclassified STI must be marked and managed appropriately. CUI should be indicated in the distribution/access limitation section on the accompanying Announcement Notice in E-Link. See also Marking Requirements for additional information.

There are two types of CUI categories: Basic and Specified. CUI Basic is the subset of CUI for which the authorizing LRGWP does not set out specific handling or dissemination controls. CUI Specified is the subset of CUI in which the authorizing LRGWP contains specific handling controls that it requires or permits agencies to use that differ from CUI Basic.

The DOE CUI Program Office developed a specific list of CUI categories which are approved for DOE use and can be found in the DOE CUI Categories List (link is external).

The "Waiver of Controlled Unclassified Information Marking Requirements for Legacy Information and Data (link is external)", issued in March 2022, lifts the requirement to remove legacy markings and designate or re-mark as CUI, as long as the information is not reused by the Department and remains under Departmental control.

Document Marking Guidelines

When marking documents as CUI, there are two main requirements: Banner Markings and the Designation Indicator.

CUI Banner Markings may include up to three elements: CUI Control Marking, CUI Categories (Basic or Specified), and Limited Dissemination Controls.

  • Banner Markings:
    • Must be the same on each page
    • Must appear as bold, capitalized, black text
    • Should be centered when feasible
    • May additionally be placed at the bottom of the page
  • The CUI Control Marking is the primary marking for all CUI and should appear at the top of each page of any document containing CUI. This marking is mandatory and consists of the acronym "CUI".
  • CUI Category Markings (Basic or Specified abbreviations) are optional to include for CUI Basic (though strongly encouraged) and mandatory for CUI Specified.
    • These are separated from the CUI Control Marking, "CUI", by a double forward slash (//).
    • CUI Specified category acronyms are preceded by SP and a dash "SP-"
    • When including multiple CUI categories, they must be alphabetized and separated by a single forward slash (/). CUI Specified categories should be listed first, followed by any CUI Basic categories.
  • Limited Dissemination Controls are preceded by a double forward slash (//) to separate them from the rest of the CUI Banner Marking.

A Designation Indicator is required for all documents containing CUI to indicate the designator's agency.

  • This may be accomplished through the use of letterhead, a signature block with agency, or use of a "Controlled by" block.
  • Every effort should be made to identify a point of contact, branch, or division within an organization, and to include contact information.

There may be additional handling and access restriction markings for certain types of protected STI. Refer to Handling/Access Restriction Markings for detailed information.