Most civilians never have to deal with classified information. It generally resides in the federal government and in the military. With that in mind, I thought some basics about security classifications would be an appropriate topic to cover. My experience comes mostly from the U.S. Army. When officers are commissioned, they get a Secret Clearance as the base level for what material they can see. Confidential information in the Army, at the unit level, had to do with military readiness reports for individual battalions and also the code books used for sending coded radio messages. Most of all that is now done electronically. Here’s a good primer for you: “List of U.S. security clearance terms.” I’ll highlight some sections below: “Security clearances can be issued by many United States of America government agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State (DOS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Energy (DoE), the Department of Justice (DoJ), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). DoD issues more than 80% of all clearances. There are three levels of DoD security clearances:[1]
The reason I had a TS/SCI clearance was that I worked on a Code Word project that had to do with the continuity of government (COG) for our national command authorities. Later, in another assignment, because I had a Top Secret clearance I was part of a team of officers who could decode nuclear attack orders that were being sent to military units. This was years ago, but I’d have to go down to the SCIF, a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF; pronounced /skɪf/) to practice decoding messages to maintain my proficiency. At one point in my career I had responsibility for the security of a SCIF. It is not just a simple safe or file safe. In my case it was a large concrete room built within a room that had a very heavy bank vault type door with a safe combination lock. Only someone with a TS/SCI clearance could enter it. The facility was used for the transmission of highly classified communications and the storage of Top Secret information. TS information cannot be just kept in a storage room with a padlock door.People who have a TS/SCI clearance must undergo a Single Scope Background Investigation, a type of United States security clearance investigation. It involves investigators or agents interviewing past employers, coworkers and other individuals associated with the subject of the SSBI. It is governed by the U.S. Intelligence Community Policy Guidance Number 704.1. Standard elements include background checks of employment, education, organization affiliations and any local agency where the subject has lived, worked, traveled or attended school. These checks lead to interviews with persons who know the subject both personally and professionally. The investigation may include a National Agency Check with Local Agency Check and Credit Check (NACLC) of the subject’s spouse or cohabitant. In my case, I recall a next door neighbor telling me he was visited by a federal agent inquiring as to my conduct, habits, etc., in and around the place where we lived. It is not just a simple records check.Hopefully the above makes you a more informed consumer of national news.
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Before coming to academia, I worked for many years as an analyst at both the State Department and the Department of Defense. I held a top secret clearance, frequently worked with classified information and participated in classified meetings. Classified information is that which a government or agency deems sensitive enough to national security that access to it must be controlled and restricted. For example, I dealt with information related to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation. Handling written classified information is generally straightforward. Documents are marked indicating classification levels. It is sometimes more difficult to remember, however, whether specific things heard or learned about in meetings or oral briefings are classified. Government employees sometimes reveal classified details accidentally in casual conversations and media interviews. We may not hear about it because it’s not in the interviewee’s or employee’s interest to point it out after the fact, or he or she may not even realize it at the time. In 1991, Sen. David Boren accidentally revealed the name of a clandestine CIA agent during a news conference. At the time, Boren was no less than chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Not all revelations of classified details are earth-shattering, like nuclear launch codes. Many are are rather mundane. A former colleague of mine who was a retired CIA analyst used to tell his students he would never knowingly, but almost certainly would inadvertently, share a tidbit of classified information in the classroom. It is very difficult to remember many “smaller” details that are sensitive. Dealing with large amounts of classified information over a career increases the possibility of accidentally sharing a small nugget. Sharing classified information knowingly, or revealing information one should know is sensitive, is a different matter. Here’s how the system of classification works. Classification levels and contentThe U.S. government uses three levels of classification to designate how sensitive certain information is: confidential, secret and top secret. The lowest level, confidential, designates information that if released could damage U.S. national security. The other designations refer to information the disclosure of which could cause “serious” (secret) or “exceptionally grave” (top secret) damage to national security. At the top secret level, some information is “compartmented.” That means only certain people who have a top secret security clearance may view it. Sometimes this information is given a “code word” so that only those cleared for that particular code word can access the information. This is often used for the most highly sensitive information. There are several other designators that also indicate restricted access. For example, only those holding a secret or top secret clearance, and the critical nuclear weapon design information designation, are allowed to access information related to many aspects of the operation and design of nuclear weapons. It is common for written documents to contain information that is classified at different levels, including unclassified information. Individual paragraphs are marked to indicate the level of classification. For example, a document’s title might be preceded with the marker (U) indicating the title and existence of the document is unclassified. Within a document, paragraphs might carry the markers “S” for secret, “C” for confidential or “TS” for top secret. The highest classification of any portion of the document determines its overall classification. This approach allows for the easy identification and removal of classified portions of a document so that less sensitive sections can be shared in unclassified settings. Not quite confidentialBelow the confidential level, there are varying terms for information that is not classified but still sensitive. Government agencies use different terms for this category of information. The State Department uses the phrase “sensitive but unclassified,” while the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security use “for official use only.” These markers are often seen in the headers and footers of documents just like classified designations. Who decides?Executive Order 13256 spells out who specifically may classify information. Authority to take certain pieces of information, say the existence of a weapons program, and classify it top secret is given only to specific individuals. They include the president and vice president, agency heads and those specifically designated by authorities outlined in the executive order. Procedures for declassification of materials are complicated. They are delineated in Executive Order 12356. However, the president has ultimate declassification authority and may declassify anything at any time. Deciding what information is classified is subjective. Some things clearly need to be kept secret, like the identity of covert operatives or battle plans. Other issues are not as obvious. Should the mere fact that the secretary of state had a conversation with a counterpart be classified? Different agencies disagree about issues like this all the time. In practice, when people leave the government they often engage in media interviews, write books and have casual conversations. There are bound to be complications and revelations – accidental or otherwise. If so, you’ll be interested in our free daily newsletter. 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What classification level is applied to information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security?
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