The Secretary of Defense and, with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Secretary of Homeland Security may, notwithstanding section 552 of title 5, authorize to be withheld from disclosure to the public personally identifying information regarding—

(1) any member of the armed forces assigned to an overseas unit, a sensitive unit, or a routinely deployable unit; and

(2) any employee of the Department of Defense or of the Coast Guard whose duty station is with any such unit.

The authority in subsection (a) is subject to such exceptions as the President may direct.

(1) The authority in subsection (a) is subject to such exceptions as the President may direct.

(2) Subsection (a) does not authorize any official to withhold, or to authorize the withholding of, information from Congress.

In this section:

(1) The term “personally identifying information”, with respect to any person, means the person’s name, rank, duty address, and official title and information regarding the person’s pay.

(2) The term “unit” means a military organization of the armed forces designated as a unit by competent authority.

(3) The term “overseas unit” means a unit that is located outside the United States and its territories.

The term “sensitive unit” means a unit that is primarily involved in training for the conduct of, or conducting, special activities or classified missions, including—

(A) a unit involved in collecting, handling, disposing, or storing of classified information and materials;

(B) a unit engaged in training— (i) special operations units; (ii) security group commands weapons stations; or (iii) communications stations; and

(C) any other unit that is designated as a sensitive unit by the Secretary of Defense or, in the case of the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

(5) The term “routinely deployable unit” means a unit that normally deploys from its permanent home station on a periodic or rotating basis to meet peacetime operational requirements that, or to participate in scheduled training exercises that, routinely require deployments outside the United States and its territories. Such term includes a unit that is alerted for deployment outside the United States and its territories during an actual execution of a contingency plan or in support of a crisis operation.

(Added Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title X, § 1044(a), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 761; amended Pub. L. 107–296, title XVII, § 1704(b)(1), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2314.)