As a follow-up
to the submission to Congress of the Fiscal Year 2002 Budget,
I would like to emphasize the importance of continuing to preserve
the confidentiality of the deliberations that led to the President's
budget decisions. Since the Budget has been formally submitted,
it is important that the Executive Branch's internal deliberations
regarding the various issues and options that were considered
in the process leading to the President's decisions should remain
a matter of internal record. Examples of confidential budget information
are an agency component's budget requests to the agency, the agency's
budget requests to OMB, and OMB's passback to the agency.
The Executive
Branch's longstanding policy on the need to preserve the confidentiality
of pre-decisional budget information is outlined in Section 36
of Circular A-11, "Communications with Congress and the Public
and Clearance Requirements." For your convenience, a copy of Section
36 is enclosed. This policy applies to all Executive Branch officials
and staff.
Thank you
for your cooperation.
Enclosure
(2k)