---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 457"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "457"
heading: "Operational files previously maintained by or concerning activities of National Photographic Interpretation Center: authority to withhold from public disclosure"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/457"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part I — Organization and General Military Powers"
  - "Chapter 22 — National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency"
  - "Subchapter II — Maps, Charts, and Geomatics Products"
---

# §457. Operational files previously maintained by or concerning activities of National Photographic Interpretation Center: authority to withhold from public disclosure

- (a) **Authority.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may withhold from public disclosure operational files described in [subsection (b)](#b) to the same extent that operational files may be withheld under section 701 of the National Security Act of 1947 ([50 U.S.C. 3141](/usc/50/3141.md)).
- (b) **Covered Operational Files.—** The authority under [subsection (a)](#a) applies to operational files in the possession of the National Geospatial-Intelligence [Agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3) that—
  - (1) as of September 22, 1996, were maintained by the National Photographic Interpretation Center; or
  - (2) concern the activities of the [Agency](/usc/10/3451.md?p=3) that, as of such date, were performed by the National Photographic Interpretation Center.
- (c) **Operational Files Defined.—** In this section, the term “operational files” has the meaning given that term in section 701(b) of the National Security Act of 1947 ([50 U.S.C. 3141(b)](/usc/50/3141.md?p=b)).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title X, § 1045(a), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 762; amended Pub. L. 108–136, div. A, title IX, § 921(d)(2)(A), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1568; Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title X, § 1071(c)(8), Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3509.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2014—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–291, § 1071(c)(8)(A), substituted “(50 U.S.C. 3141)” for “(50 U.S.C. 431)”.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 113–291, § 1071(c)(8)(B), substituted “(50 U.S.C. 3141(b))” for “(50 U.S.C. 431(b))”.

2003—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 108–136 substituted “National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency” for “National Imagery and Mapping Agency” in introductory provisions.