After years of extensions sought by federal agencies, the move will be the government's first automatic declassification of records that are at least 25 years old.

Records exempted from automatic declassification are subject to the systematic review program.

The Clinton order excludes nine categories of information from automatic 10-year declassification.

(9) violate a statute, treaty, or international agreement that does not permit the automatic or unilateral declassification of information at 25 years.

(d) The following provisions shall apply to the onset of automatic declassification:

Predictably, the C.I.A.'s lawyers oppose automatic declassification of the mustiest documents.

Under the draft, such automatic declassification would be postponed until Dec. 31, 2006.

He said its strength was that it preserved both automatic declassification and the interagency appeals panel from the Clinton administration.

The order would require the automatic declassification of secret documents after 25 years.

It also sets a timeline for automatic declassification of old information that is not specifically identified as requiring continued secrecy.