WASHINGTON — Declaring the current system for classifying information dysfunctional, a federal advisory panel is calling for the most thorough overhaul of government secrecy since classification procedures were established 70 years ago.

“Many people believe the system is collapsing under its own weight and is just not credible,” Nancy Soderberg, a veteran diplomat and national security expert and chairwoman of the panel, the Public Interest Declassification Board, said Wednesday in an interview. She said the explosion in digital records would force a radical change in the government’s procedures for identifying and protecting secrets.

The board’s report was delivered late last month to President Obama. It is scheduled for public release on Thursday at the National Archives in Washington, and then the White House will decide what action to take.

The report reflects a view, widely held by current and former national security officials, that far too much information is classified. But it also comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on unauthorized disclosures of classified information, with six prosecutions for leaking to the news media since Mr. Obama took office. Ms. Soderberg, who was staff director of the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, said the board recognized the importance of protecting genuine secrets. But she said the panel found that “risk-averse” government officials labeled far too much harmless information as secret.