Born secret

Last updated

"Born secret" and "born classified" are both terms which refer to a policy under the system of law in the United States of information being classified from the moment of its inception, usually regardless of where it was created, and usually in reference to specific laws in the United States that are related to information that describes the operation of nuclear weapons. [1] The concept is not limited to nuclear weapons, and other ideas and technologies may be considered as born secret under law. [2] There are no other areas of United States law where it is illegal to discuss publicly-available information. [3] In 2006, the United States Department of Energy themselves noted that the born secret/classified doctrine was controversial. [4]

Contents

History

Historically, the Born Secret concept applied to any data related to nuclear technologies, regardless of whether or not the given specific technologies were developed by the United States government or other parties. [1] Howard Morland, writing in Cardozo Law Review , equated the Born Secret doctrine to a permanent gag order on nuclear ideas and concepts. [5] It has been extensively used in reference to a clause in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which specified that all information about nuclear weapons and nuclear energy was to be considered "Restricted Data" (RD) until it had been officially declassified. In the 1954 revision of the Act, the United States Atomic Energy Commission was given the power to declassify entire categories of information. The "born secret" policy was created under the assumption that nuclear information could be so important to national security that it would need classification before it could be formally evaluated. The wording of the 1954 act specified as secret:

All data concerning (1) design, manufacture, or utilization of atomic weapons; (2) the production of special nuclear material; or (3) the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy, but shall not include data declassified or removed from the Restricted Data category pursuant to section 2162 of this title. [6]

United States government scientists who work on nuclear-related matters historically were issued Q clearance, due partly to the born secret or classified doctrine, and is required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restricted Data (RD) is defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and covers nuclear weapons and related materials. [7] [8] [9] In 2006, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) themselves noted that the born secret/classified doctrine was controversial. [4] In 2006, the DOE acknowledged that the born secret/classified doctrine was very controversial. [4] Writing for the Department, Nick Prospero highlighted concerns related to constitutionality; the stifling of scientific research and advancement; and that public pressure for open access to data in the areas of "health, safety and the environment" fueled this historic controversy, back to the days of the predecessors of the DOE such as the United States Atomic Energy Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration. [4]

Legality and challenges

The constitutionality of declaring entire categories of information preemptively classified has not been definitively tested in the courts. [6] The legality of the "born secret" doctrine was directly challenged in a freedom of the press case in 1979 ( United States v. The Progressive ). [5] In that case, the magazine The Progressive attempted to publish an account of the so-called "secret of the hydrogen bomb" (the Teller–Ulam design), which was apparently created without recourse to classified information. [5] Many analysts predicted that the United States Supreme Court would, if it heard the case, reject the "born secret" clause as being an unconstitutional restraint on speech. [5] However, the government dropped the case as moot before it was resolved. [10] The concept of born secret is reported as the only area of United States law where discussion of data and information already in the public sphere is defined as illegal. [3] Writing for Cardoza Law Review, Aviam Soifer argues that the application of classification can even apply retroactively, to the original conception or germination of a related idea or concept, under the born secret doctrine. [11] In Security Classification of Information, Volume 1. Introduction, History, and Adverse Impacts, Arvin Quist, in materials prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, notes that the concept is unique to nuclear restricted data, but has been attempted to be extended beyond nuclear technologies toward cryptography by the National Security Agency (NSA). [6] However, the NSA attempted this not through legislative means, but by voluntary agreements with stakeholders. [12] Quist, writing in 2002, notes that per Federal Register notices in 1967 and 1972, there exists only one known 'loophole' around nuclear technologies and born secret doctrines:

According to current DOE procedures, research and development on methods of isotope separation other than gaseous diffusion or gas centrifuge can be carried out on an unclassified basis until that research shows a “reasonable potential for the separation of practical quantities of special nuclear material.” Thus, this area of atomic-energy information is not “born classified” but is classified only when it reaches “adolescence.” [6] [13] [14]

In the early days of the American nuclear programs, a noted concern of scientists was fear of accidental violations of the Atomic Energy Act. [15] Given how rare declassifications of nuclear related topics were in the era, scientists and researchers had difficulty knowing what could be publicized or even discussed. [15] As a result, recommendations were issued for the Atomic Energy Commission to clearly "publish explicit and detailed catalogues of types of data not included in the restricted category," so that those working on nuclear matters were no longer subject to "...the intolerable fear that publication of every research finding is a violation of the [Atomic Energy Act of 1946]." [15] [16]

Risks to media coverage of nuclear incidents

Aryeh Neier, writing in 1980 for the Index on Censorship in his essay, USA: 'Born classified' highlighted possible dangers and risks of the secrecy doctrine, and how they may have been used to lawfully restrict media coverage of plutonium and radioactive contamination from the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colorado; the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash where a United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed at Goldsboro, North Carolina leaving a single Mark 39 nuclear bomb "one safety" from detonating outside of a small town; and how at Palomares, Spain, the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash from a mid-air collision led to the dumping of four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs, [17] [18] [19] all of which fell to the surface. [20] Three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. The non-nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a 0.77-square-mile (2 km2) area with radioactive plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a search lasting two and a half months. [21] Neier noted that the editors of The Progressive called out these specific examples of risks from a born secret doctrine in the United States v. Progressive, Inc. court case. [20]

John Aristotle Phillips

In 1976, Princeton University student John Aristotle Phillips designed, on paper, a working nuclear weapon to show how easily such technologies could fall into the hands of American adversaries, and was later nicknamed the "A-Bomb Kid" by the media in response. [3] [22] [23] Nuclear physicist Frank Chilton evaluated Phillips design as "very likely to work". [24] Phillips stated, "Its very simple. Any undergraduate physics major could have done what I did." [24] Despite all his work having been created with information available to the general public, the entirety of what Phillips produced would be considered classified information upon creation and thus illegal to share or discuss within the United States of America. [3] Phillips later wrote, summarizing the situation:

Suppose an average—or below-average in my case—physics student at a university could design a workable atomic bomb on paper. That would prove the point dramatically and show the federal government that stronger safeguards have to be placed on the manufacturing and use of plutonium. In short, if I could design a bomb, almost any intelligent person could. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federation of American Scientists</span> American think tank

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists, including some who worked on the Manhattan Project, to develop the first atomic bombs. The Federation of American Scientists states that it aims to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons that are in use, and prevent nuclear and radiological terrorism. It says it aims to present high standards for nuclear energy's safety and security, illuminate government secrecy practices, as well as track and eliminate the global illicit trade of conventional, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

<i>N</i>th Country Experiment Cold War project to demonstrate the ease of building nuclear weapons

The Nth Country Experiment was an experiment conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory starting in May 1964 that sought to assess the risk of nuclear proliferation. The experiment consisted in paying three young physicists who had just received their PhDs, though they had no prior weapons experience, to develop a working nuclear weapon design, using only unclassified information, and with basic computational and technical support. "The goal of the participants should be to design an explosive with a militarily significant yield", the report on the experiment read, "A working context for the experiment might be that the participants have been asked to design a nuclear explosive which, if built in small numbers, would give a small nation a significant effect on their foreign relations."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classified information</span> Material that government claims requires confidentiality

Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know. Mishandling of the material can incur criminal penalties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smyth Report</span> First official account of the Manhattan Project

The Smyth Report is the common name of an administrative history written by American physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth about the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to develop atomic bombs during World War II. The subtitle of the report is A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes. It was released to the public on August 12, 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9.

The Vela incident was an unidentified double flash of light detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite on 22 September 1979 near the South African territory of Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Africa and Antarctica. Today, most independent researchers believe that the flash was caused by a nuclear explosion—an undeclared joint nuclear test carried out by South Africa and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear weapons in popular culture</span>

Since their public debut in August 1945, nuclear weapons and their potential effects have been a recurring motif in popular culture, to the extent that the decades of the Cold War are often referred to as the "atomic age".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic Energy Act of 1946</span> US law on the control and management of nuclear technology

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most significantly, the Act ruled that nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian, rather than military control, and established the United States Atomic Energy Commission for this purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear weapons of the United States</span>

The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nuclear tests, and tested many long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems.

<i>United States v. Progressive, Inc.</i> 1979 court case

United States of America v. Progressive, Inc., Erwin Knoll, Samuel Day, Jr., and Howard Morland, 467 F. Supp. 990, was a lawsuit brought against The Progressive magazine by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in 1979. A temporary injunction was granted against The Progressive to prevent the publication of an article written by activist Howard Morland that purported to reveal the "secret" of the hydrogen bomb. Though the information had been compiled from publicly available sources, the DOE claimed that it fell under the "born secret" clause of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

John Aristotle Phillips is a U.S. entrepreneur specializing in political campaigns, who became famous for attempting to design a nuclear weapon while a student, leading to him being dubbed The A-Bomb Kid by the media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermonuclear weapon</span> 2-stage nuclear weapon

A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239. The first full-scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952, and the concept has since been employed by most of the world's nuclear powers in the design of their weapons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Teller–Ulam design</span> History of technical design of modern hydrogen bombs

The Teller–Ulam design is a technical concept behind modern thermonuclear weapons, also known as hydrogen bombs. The design – the details of which are military secrets and known to only a handful of major nations – is believed to be used in virtually all modern nuclear weapons that make up the arsenals of the major nuclear powers.

Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information is a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) category of Top Secret Restricted Data or Secret Restricted Data that reveals the theory of operation or design of the components of a thermonuclear or fission bomb, warhead, demolition munition, or test device. Specifically excluded is information concerning arming, fuzing, and firing systems; limited life components; and total contained quantities of fissionable, fusionable, and high explosive materials by type. Among these excluded items are the components that DoD personnel set, maintain, operate, test or replace. The sensitivity of DoD CNWDI is such that access is granted to the absolute minimum number of employees who require it for the accomplishment of assigned responsibilities on a classified contract. Because of the importance of such information, special requirements have been established for its control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic spies</span> WWII Soviet nuclear research spies in the West

Atomic spies or atom spies were people in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada who are known to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early Cold War. Exactly what was given, and whether everyone on the list gave it, are still matters of some scholarly dispute. In some cases, some of the arrested suspects or government witnesses had given strong testimonies or confessions which they recanted later or said were fabricated. Their work constitutes the most publicly well-known and well-documented case of nuclear espionage in the history of nuclear weapons. At the same time, numerous nuclear scientists wanted to share the information with the world scientific community, but this proposal was firmly quashed by the United States government.

The United States government classification system is established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic of classified information beginning in 1951. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 replaced earlier executive orders on the topic and modified the regulations codified to 32 C.F.R. 2001. It lays out the system of classification, declassification, and handling of national security information generated by the U.S. government and its employees and contractors, as well as information received from other governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Q clearance</span> U.S. Department of Energy security clearance level

Q clearance or Q access authorization is the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restricted Data (RD) is defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and covers nuclear weapons and related materials. The lower-level L clearance is sufficient for access to Secret Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) and National Security Information, as well as Confidential Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data. Access to Restricted Data is only granted on a need-to-know basis to personnel with appropriate clearances.

The withdrawal of previously declassified U.S. federal records is a process in which agencies can remove records from public access that they believe were incorrectly declassified and made available to the public at the National Archives and Records Administration. The process is often referred to as "reclassification," but because the records were never properly declassified and remained classified even when made publicly available, they are not re-classified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restricted Data</span> Legal category of US nuclear secrets

Restricted Data (RD) is a category of proscribed information, per National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). Specifically, it is defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash</span> 1968 aviation accident

On 21 January 1968, an aircraft accident, sometimes known as the Thule affair or Thule accident, involving a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber occurred near Thule Air Base in the Danish territory of Greenland. The aircraft was carrying four B28FI thermonuclear bombs on a Cold War "Chrome Dome" alert mission over Baffin Bay when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft before they could carry out an emergency landing at Thule Air Base. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay, Greenland, causing the conventional explosives aboard to detonate and the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, resulting in radioactive contamination of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Nuclear Science & History</span> Atomic History and Science museum in Albuquerque, NM

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History is a national repository of nuclear science information chartered by the 102nd United States Congress under Public Law 102-190, and located in unincorporated Bernalillo County, New Mexico, with an Albuquerque postal address. It is adjacent to both the Albuquerque city limits and Kirtland Air Force Base.

References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government .

  1. 1 2 Wellerstein, Alex (August 18, 2022). "Can Trump Just Declare Nuclear Secrets Unclassified?". Lawfare . Archived from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Phillips, John Aristotle; Michaelis, David (1978). Mushroom: The Story of the A-Bomb Kid. William Morrow. pp. 85–86. ISBN   0688033512.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gillman, Ben (May 30, 2019). "Can Trump Just Declare Nuclear Secrets Unclassified?". Stanford University, "Introduction to Nuclear Energy", PH241 - Stanford University - Winter 2019, R. B. Laughlin. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Prospero, Nick (February 2006). ""Born Classified" - The Phrase That Won't Die" (PDF). United States Department of Energy . Archived (PDF) from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Howard Morland (March 2005). "Born Secret" (PDF). Cardozo Law Review : 1401–1408. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2006.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Quist, Arvin (2002). "4". Security Classification of Information: Vol. 1. Introduction, History, and Adverse Impacts, chapter 4, "Classification Under The Atomic Energy Act" (PDF). Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021.
  7. ↑ William, Burr (July 1, 2003). "1960s "Nth Country Experiment" Foreshadows Today's Concerns Over the Ease of Nuclear Proliferation". National Security Archive . Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  8. ↑ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Clearance Processing Archived October 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 15, 2006.
  9. ↑ Alexander De Volpi; Jerry Marsh; Ted Postol & George Stanford (1981). Born secret: the H-bomb, the Progressive case and national security. New York: Pergamon Press. ISBN   0-08-025995-2.
  10. ↑ Soifer, Aviam (2024). "Born Classified, Born Free: An Essay for Henry Schwarzschild". Cardozo Law Review. 19: 16. Archived from the original on September 1, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024. The Born Classified rationale could apply from the moment of the germination of these ideas and could even be applied retroactively. In fact, the Progressive litigation exemplified this point. The decision by Government officials to label a publication as a national security risk moved the dispute outside the usual legal rules and beyond the ken of regular judicial processes.
  11. ↑ Bok, Sissela (1982). Secrets. On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation. Pantheon Books. p. 166.
  12. ↑ Atomic Energy Commission (November 28, 1967). "Restricted Data, Notice of Proposed Rule Making". Federal Register . 32 (250): 20868–20880. 32 FR 20869
  13. ↑ Atomic Energy Commission (August 1, 1972). "Novel Methods of Isotope Separation, Procedures for Reports on Research". Federal Register . 32 (148): 15393. 37 FR 15393
  14. 1 2 3 Quist, Arvin (2002). "3". Security Classification of Information: Vol. 1. Introduction, History, and Adverse Impacts. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, chapter 3, "Classification of Information--An Overview". Archived from the original on December 4, 2021.
  15. ↑ J. R. Newman & B. S. Miller (1948). The Control of Atomic Energy. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. p. 220.
  16. ↑ S V Asselin (August 1966). SC-DR-66-397 B-51/KC-135 Collision near Palomares, Spain (U) (Report). Sandia National Labs.
  17. ↑ Maydew, Randall C. (1997). America's Lost H-Bomb: Palomares, Spain, 1966. Sunflower University Press. ISBN   978-0-89745-214-4.
  18. ↑ A Summary of Accidents and Significant Incidents Involving US Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Weapon Systems (U) (Report). Sandia National Labs. 1990.
  19. 1 2 Aryeh Neier (February 1980). "USA: 'Born classified'". Index on Censorship : 51–54. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024.
  20. ↑ Long, Tony (January 17, 2008). "Jan. 17, 1966: H-Bombs Rain Down on a Spanish Fishing Village". WIRED. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2008.
  21. ↑ Peterson, Charles (May 8, 1977). "John Aristotle Phillips: The A-Bomb Kid". Youngstown Vindicator . Retrieved July 24, 2011– via Google News.
  22. ↑ Collins, Paul (December 16, 2003). "The A-Bomb Kid". The Village Voice . Archived from the original on July 2, 2015.
  23. 1 2 Rein, Richard Keys (October 25, 1976). "A Princeton Tiger Designs An Atomic Bomb in a Physics Class". People Magazine . Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.