Classified information

Classification formalises what constitutes a "state secret" and accords different levels of protection based on the expected damage the information might cause in the wrong hands.

The Washington Post reported in an investigation entitled "Top Secret America" that, as of 2010, "An estimated 854,000 people ... hold top-secret security clearances" in the United States.

[8] It is desired that no document be released which refers to experiments with humans and might have adverse effect on public opinion or result in legal suits.

Official (equivalent to US DOD classification Controlled Unclassified Information or CUI) material forms the generality of government business, public service delivery and commercial activity.

This includes a diverse range of information, of varying sensitivities, and with differing consequences resulting from compromise or loss.

Official information must be secured against a threat model that is broadly similar to that faced by a large private company.

[citation needed] Clearance is a general classification, that comprises a variety of rules controlling the level of permission required to view some classified information, and how it must be stored, transmitted, and destroyed.

For example, in Canada, information that the U.S. would classify SBU (Sensitive but Unclassified) is called "protected" and further subcategorised into levels A, B, and C. On 19 July 2011, the National Security (NS) classification marking scheme and the Non-National Security (NNS) classification marking scheme in Australia was unified into one structure.

This is mandated by the 2011 Information Access Law (Lei de Acesso à Informação), a change from the previous rule, under which documents could have their classification time length renewed indefinitely, effectively shuttering state secrets from the public.

SOIs include: In February 2025, the Department of National Defence announced a new category of Persons Permanently Bound to Security (PPBS).

The protection would apply to some units, sections or elements, and select positions (both current and former), with access to sensitive Special Operational Information (SOI) for national defense and intelligence work.

If an individual has direct access to SOI, deemed to be integral to national security, that person may be recommended for PPBS designation.

It pertains to any sensitive information that does not relate to national security and cannot be disclosed under the access and privacy legislation because of the potential injury to particular public or private interests.

[31] The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (which is not operative in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau) makes it a crime to release a state secret.

Declassification of documents can be done by the Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale (CCSDN), an independent authority.

The Security Bureau is responsible for developing policies in regards to the protection and handling of confidential government information.

Four classifications exists in Hong Kong, from highest to lowest in sensitivity:[35] Restricted documents are not classified per se, but only those who have a need to know will have access to such information, in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.

Because of strict privacy requirements around personal information, personnel files are controlled in all parts of the public and private sectors.

[38] The levels are set by the Romanian Intelligence Service and must be aligned with NATO regulations—in case of conflicting regulations, the latter are applied with priority.

The Cabinet Office provides guidance on how to protect information, including the security clearances required for personnel.

These may later emerge when technology improves so for example the specialised processors and routing engines used in graphics cards are loosely based on top secret military chips designed for code breaking and image processing.

They may or may not have safeguards built in to generate errors when specific tasks are attempted and this is invariably independent of the card's operating system.

A variety of markings are used for material that is not classified, but whose distribution is limited administratively or by other laws, e.g., For Official Use Only (FOUO), or Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU).

For example, although the CIA drone program has been widely discussed in public since the early 2000s, and reporters personally observed and reported on drone missile strikes, the CIA still considers the very existence of the program to be classified in its entirety, and any public discussion of it technically constitutes exposure of classified information.

Private corporations often require written confidentiality agreements and conduct background checks on candidates for sensitive positions.

[53] In the U.S., the Employee Polygraph Protection Act prohibits private employers from requiring lie detector tests, but there are a few exceptions.

Policies dictating methods for marking and safeguarding company-sensitive information (e.g. "IBM Confidential") are common and some companies have more than one level.

New product development teams are often sequestered and forbidden to share information about their efforts with un-cleared fellow employees, the original Apple Macintosh project being a famous example.

However, corporate security generally lacks the elaborate hierarchical clearance and sensitivity structures and the harsh criminal sanctions that give government classification systems their particular tone.

The Traffic Light Protocol[54][55] was developed by the Group of Eight countries to enable the sharing of sensitive information between government agencies and corporations.