List of security clearances

Does any one have more clearance than he president cuz there are incidents where someone knows more than the president but they don't tell the president on UFO's and other topics but isn't it illegal and against the law to hide anything form the president of the US? is this true

Hm, I believe there are clearances the President can't get considering the President can change at any time along with every few years, so some stuff has to remain top secret.

Its not necessarily a matter of clearance - its a matter of access and need-to-know.

The President is undoubtedly cleared Top Secret, like many others, however, exactly what he has access to is probably limited.

For example, he does not have a need-to-know for sensitive technical data regarding the operation and specifications of Keyhole satellites. While he may need access to the intelligence product that they provide, and maybe even their tactical capabilties, he doesn't need to know "how" they work or "what" makes them work, which is classified under separate security compartments.

Despite popular opinion, there are no "master" security clearances that gives an individual carte blanche access to all classified information. Even the Director of Central Intelligence cannot see everything, unless he has a specific need to do so.

Originally posted by ANTONIO
by the way the U.S.S. Pennsylvania is a boomer out of Kings Bay Georgia. Brings back bad memories

The Penn is now in Bangor. For awhile now, actually.

It was actually sent west in August of 2002 along with 2 other Ohio class sub's ...thay had to decom 3 of the old ones in Bangor, the Penn was one of three that took the spot . I was in Kings Bay in 1999.

No one gets to know everything. As has been repeatedly asserted, the most important clearance is always NTK: Need-To-Know.

You can have a general TS with all the bells and whistles, polygraphs, lifestyles, dental exams, psych evals and crossword puzzle scores and still be flatly denied access to material marked "For Official Use Only". You must have a need to know to be granted access to any classified material.

Aside from the standards and investigations for various "established" clearances, almost all special access or sensitive compartmented information programs have additional requirements for candidates as defined by the program. They can be very specific and very exclusive.

You can be denied access if it is deemed that the program you are being considered for may be too closely linked to other programs you have worked on and may thus violate compartmentation restrictions. You can be denied access if any aspect of your background or qualifications may present potential risks due to the nature of the program.

Many programs require you to be unanimously approved by a humorless and very persnickety selection board, who may simply not like you. Some programs may be at odds with the tenets of your religion or your political views. If so, too bad, no access, they will find someone else. Even upon meeting those requirements, no one, even program directors, usually sees everything.

Beyond all that, some information has been and is considered so sensitive that it is prohibited to even be written down or recorded in any way, other than in the memories of those entrusted with it by word of mouth. It is difficult to be more secure than that.

So ultimately, the idea that some clearances grant automatic access to everything (or for that matter anything) is Hollywood fiction.

I had a NATO Secret security clearance when i was in Germany. It was required because I worked around the missiles.

Missed one:
Top Secret-SCI-Full/Scope Lifestyle-TS/SCI-Counterintelligence.

All counterintelligece is a seprate clearance from regular security. Now I think the list is complete.

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance





[edit on 3/27/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

For eyes only--Gee how could you miss this one

FEO and Yankee White in my oppnion are the highest ratings

Unless someone knows something I don't, "EYES ONLY" is a document classification, not a security clearance designation, and thus would not be appropriate to the list.

But I'll leave that up to the listmaster.

Originally posted by winker
Missed this one! (Rhyolite Security Clearance!) Keyword Search

I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a Rhyolite Security clearance. However, there was some discussion of the Rhyolite program in the book "The Falcon and the Snowman." Essentially, they were satellites for spying. The US sort of cooperated with the Aussie government on this so that they could use the Alice Springs location, but it turned out that the US still witheld some information from the Aussies.

BTW, if you google. you can find some cases where security clearance decisions were appealed - it provides some interesting information about the process. For example, here's an official page:
www.defenselink.mil...

a lot of good all that mental masturbation with clearances did on 9/11...

maybe if people cared as much about physical security as about information security we'd still have the world trade center, not to mention 3000 lives.

Originally posted by SecretDestroyer
For eyes only--Gee how could you miss this one

FEO and Yankee White in my oppnion are the highest ratings

I know several people who have worked in high clearence jobs. For Eyes Only is NOT a Clearance, it only means you are not allowed to copy the document, or documents. It is often used on briefing documents for covert ops. They use it so they know exactly how many copies of a document exist. that is why it is never used without a clearence indicator, such as Sectret or Top Secret.

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignornce

I know that Yankee White is for the person that carries the Nuclear launch codes. Any guess on the others?

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

That is incorrect. Yankee White is a presidential access clearance.

[edit on 25-12-2004 by Ground Rat]

A Security classification often used in the UK during the Cold War was- TOP SECRET/GUARD (and it was a security classification- not just a document classification).

In priciple is applied to information that must not, under any conditions, be given to , ot shared with, the United States of America.








These pages, taken from UK Biological Warfare research committee minutes, show how this classification was used when the committee discussed the efficiency of BW work being carried out at the US BW centre-Fort Detrick.


zero lift

Originally posted by zero lift
A Security classification often used in the UK during the Cold War was- TOP SECRET/GUARD (and it was a security classification- not just a document classification).

In priciple is applied to information that must not, under any conditions, be given to , ot shared with, the United States of America.

The US has several levels of releasability to other nationals - the most common are NOFORN, Releasable to Canada/Great Britian, and Releasable to NATO. This in general only applies to Secret, Top Secret is almost never releasable to other countries.

Another item that hasn't been mentioned is Restriced and Formerly Restricted Data. These are special restrictions outlined by the Atomic Energy Act to protect information that is used in the production/use of nuclear weapons.

[edit on 25-12-2004 by Starwars51]

Sorry, the list is neither full nor correct. Missing are at least NATO restricted and Nato Confidential; nothing to get excited about, but still. And NATO resp US citizen are distribution statements, not classifications. I wonder what Technology is, it does not sound much like a classification either

I've got a question for you guys concerning a clearance that maybe you will be able to answer for me.

My father had a secret clearance with the Air Force a while back while he was still in. He claims that he "transported supplies" in a 1-ton pickup.

I read somewhere that one is allowed to disclose secret information after some time, like years and years and years, but does anybody know exactly how long? I'm trying to find out what he really did in the Air Force.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

theres another that was missed...PSD, presidential security detail. its mostly just a background check saying you wont go nuts standing next to the president and kill him. or at least theres nothing in your history or evals that says you have the likelyhood of doing so. It may be technically classified as something else, but when i applied for mine, thats what it was called.
On a lighter note, this whole "for eyes only" what about the blind who need braille? do they have a designation for them thats "for fingers only"?