what is controlled unclassified information

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is a category of unclassified information within the U.S. Federal government. It is information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with applicable law, regulations, and government-wide policies but is not classified. The CUI program was created by President Obama’s Executive Order 13556 to create a streamlined method for information sharing and to standardize the way the executive branch handles unclassified information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with law, Federal regulations, and Government-wide policies. The doctrine, policy, and processes for Controlled Unclassified Information came out of a study and policy change proposal which originated within the Information Sharing and Collaboration Office of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Under Secretariat of the Department of Homeland Security in 2004. The term Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) was coined by the authors of the study which reviewed over 140 various forms of unclassified information in use throughout the federal government at the time.