Open secret

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The phrase open secret refers to information that was originally intended to be confidential but has at some point been disclosed and is known to many people. [1] Open secrets are secrets in the sense that they are excluded from formal or official discourse, but they are open in the sense that they are familiar and referred to in idioms and language games, though these often require explanation for outsiders. [2]

Contents

Area 51 Groom Road gate Area51 gate.JPG
Area 51 Groom Road gate

United States government

Area 51

One famous open secret is that of Area 51, a United States military base containing an aircraft testing facility. [3] The U.S. government did not explicitly affirm the existence of any military facility near Groom Lake, Lincoln County, Nevada, until 2013, when the CIA released documents revealing that the site was established to test spy planes. [4] While the general location of the base is now officially acknowledged, the base does not appear on government maps or in declassified satellite photography. [5] Yet despite this, the base was demonstrably and widely acknowledged to exist for many years before the CIA officially confirmed its existence. [6] [7] The immense secrecy has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component to UFO folklore. [8]

NSA

The National Security Agency was formally established by President Truman in a memorandum of 24 October 1952, that revised National Security Council Intelligence Directive (NSCID) 9. [9] Since President Truman's memo was a classified document, [9] the existence of the NSA was not known to the public at that time. Due to its ultra-secrecy the U.S. intelligence community referred to the NSA as "No Such Agency". [10]

United Kingdom government

MI6

The existence of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) was widely known for several decades before the government's official acknowledgement of the organisation in 1994. [11]

Post Office Tower

Post Office Tower was completed in 1964 and information about it was designated an official secret, due to its importance to the national communications network. In 1978, the journalist Duncan Campbell was tried for collecting information about secret locations, and during the trial the judge ordered that the sites could not be identified by name; the Post Office Tower could only be referred to as 'Location 23'. [12] It was officially revealed by Kate Hoey under parliamentary privilege in 1993, despite being a 177-metre (581 ft) tall structure in the middle of central London. [13] [14]

It is often said that the tower did not appear on Ordnance Survey maps, despite being a 177-metre (581 ft) tall structure in the middle of central London that was open to the public for about 15 years. [14] However, this is incorrect; the 1:25,000 (published 1971) and 1:10,000 (published 1981) Ordnance Survey maps show the tower. [15] It is also shown in the London A–Z street atlas from 1984. [16]

Other governments

Israel nuclear weapons

Israel is widely acknowledged to possess nuclear weapons. [17] This can be considered an open secret, because the Israeli government has never explicitly stated whether or not it possesses a nuclear stockpile, officially maintaining a policy of deliberate ambiguity. [18] [19] [20] [21]

Camp Mirage

Camp Mirage is the codename for a former Canadian Forces forward logistics facility located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The facility was established in late December 2001 and, though not officially acknowledged by the Canadian Forces, was considered an open secret. [22]

Entertainment

Kayfabe

Kayfabe, or the presentation of professional wrestling as "real" or unscripted, is an open secret, kept displayed as legitimate within the confines of wrestling programs but openly acknowledged as predetermined by wrestlers and promoters in the context of interviews for decades.

The Stig's identity

In television, the primary real-world identity of The Stig, a costumed and masked television test-driver used by BBC Television for Top Gear , was an open secret until the unofficial embargo was broken by a newspaper in 2009. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area 51</span> US Air Force facility in southern Nevada

Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport or Groom Lake. Details of its operations are not made public, but the USAF says that it is an open training range, and it is commonly thought to support the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. The USAF and CIA acquired the site in 1955, primarily for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ECHELON</span> Signals intelligence collection and analysis network

ECHELON, originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known as the Five Eyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nevada Test Site</span> United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada

The Nevada National Security Site, known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the city of Las Vegas. Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, the site was established in 1951 for the testing of nuclear devices. It covers approximately 1,360 square miles (3,500 km2) of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear weapons testing at the site began with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT (4.2 TJ) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951. Over the subsequent four decades, over 1,000 nuclear explosions were detonated at the site. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from the site.

The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, until October 1, 1980. It was intended to decrypt messages transmitted by the intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union. Initiated when the Soviet Union was an ally of the US, the program continued during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was considered an enemy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Gap</span> Satellite station in the Northern Territory, Australia

Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18 km (11 mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the center of Australia. It is jointly operated by Australia and the United States, and since 1988 it has been officially called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG); previously, it was known as Joint Defence Space Research Facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Menwith Hill</span> Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site. It has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UKUSA Agreement</span> Multilateral signals intelligence treaty signed in 1946

The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The alliance of intelligence operations is also known as the Five Eyes. In classification markings this is abbreviated as FVEY, with the individual countries being abbreviated as AUS, CAN, NZL, GBR, and USA, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natanz</span> City in Isfahan province, Iran

Natanz is a city in the Central District of Natanz County, Isfahan province, Iran, and serves as both capital of the county and of the district. It is 70 kilometres (43 mi) south-east of Kashan.

Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) is an Israeli research and development laboratory It is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office that works in close cooperation with Israeli government agencies. IIBR has many public projects on which it works with international research organizations and universities. It has approximately 350 employees, 150 of whom are scientists. Its research findings are often published in national and international scientific publications. It is widely believed to be involved in the manufacturing of biological and chemical weapons. The IIBR is currently developing a COVID-19 vaccine Brilife.

Unit 8200 is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for clandestine operation, collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption, counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence, and surveillance. Military publications include references to Unit 8200 as the Central Collection Unit of the Intelligence Corps, and it is sometimes referred to as Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU). It is subordinate to Aman, the military intelligence directorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear weapons and Israel</span> Israels possible control of nuclear weapons

The State of Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Estimates of Israel's stockpile range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads, and the country is believed to possess the ability to deliver them in several methods, including by aircraft, as submarine-launched cruise missiles, and via the Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental range ballistic missiles. Its first deliverable nuclear weapon is thought to have been completed in late 1966 or early 1967; which would make it the sixth country in the world to have developed them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Outside the Box</span> 2007 Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria

Operation Outside the Box, also known as Operation Orchard, was an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor, referred to as the Al Kibar site, in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria, which occurred just after midnight on 6 September 2007. The Israeli and U.S. governments did not announce the secret raids for seven months. The White House and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) subsequently confirmed that American intelligence had also indicated the site was a nuclear facility with a military purpose, though Syria denies this. A 2009 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation reported evidence of uranium and graphite and concluded that the site bore features resembling an undeclared nuclear reactor. IAEA was initially unable to confirm or deny the nature of the site because, according to IAEA, Syria failed to provide necessary cooperation with the IAEA investigation. Syria has disputed these claims. Nearly four years later, in April 2011 during the Syrian Civil War, the IAEA officially confirmed that the site was a nuclear reactor. Israel did not acknowledge the attack until 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syria and weapons of mass destruction</span>

Syria and weapons of mass destruction deals with the research, manufacture, stockpiling and alleged use by Syria of weapons of mass destruction, which include chemical and nuclear weapons.

There are many claims that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has repeatedly intervened in the internal affairs of Iran, from the Mossadegh coup of 1953 to the present time. The CIA is said to have collaborated with the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Its personnel may have been involved in the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s. More recently in 2007-8 the CIA were claimed to be supporting the Sunni terrorist group Jundallah against Iran, but these claims were refuted by a later investigation.

<i>Nuclear Secrets</i> British TV series or programme

Nuclear Secrets, aka Spies, Lies and the Superbomb, is a 2007 BBC Television docudrama series which looks at the race for nuclear supremacy from the Manhattan Project through to Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friendship Annex</span>

The Friendship Annex, also known as FANX or FANEX, is a National Security Agency (NSA) facility complex located in Linthicum, Maryland, near the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). Established in the 1970s, the complex consists of multiple buildings and serves multiple roles as a cyber espionage station, electronic intelligence processing facility, and NSA Broadcast Network television studio. It is also the primary campus of the National Cryptologic School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Origins of global surveillance</span>

The origins of global surveillance can be traced back to the late 1940s, when the UKUSA Agreement was jointly enacted by the United Kingdom and the United States, whose close cooperation eventually culminated in the creation of the global surveillance network, code-named "ECHELON", in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)</span>

This timeline of global surveillance disclosures from 2013 to the present day is a chronological list of the global surveillance disclosures that began in 2013. The disclosures have been largely instigated by revelations from the former American National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies is a documentary series that details important cases, missions and operations of the American intelligence community, told firsthand by the men and women who worked them.

References

  1. ↑ Barnden, John; Gargett, Andrew, eds. (2020). Producing Figurative Expression (1 ed.). Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 486. ISBN   978 90 272 0803 3.
  2. ↑ Henig, David; Makovicky, Nicolette, eds. (19 January 2017). "Economies of Favour after Socialism". OUP Academic: 58. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199687411.001.0001.
  3. ↑ Dreamland: Fifty Years of Secret Flight Testing in Nevada By Peter W. Merlin
  4. ↑ Boyle, Alan (16 August 2013). "Area 51 and its purpose declassified: No UFOs, but lots of U-2 spy planes". NBC News . Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  5. ↑ USGS 1:24K/25K Topo map for location UTM 11 605181E 4124095N (NAD27) (map via TopoQuest.com)
  6. ↑ Pike, John. "Area 51 Facility Overview", Federation of American Scientists.
  7. ↑ "Area 51 / Catch 22" segment, 60 Minutes broadcast 17 March 1996.
  8. ↑ Jacobsen, Annie (2012), Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base, Back Bay Books, ISBN   0316202304
  9. 1 2 Truman, Harry S. (24 October 1952). "Memorandum" (PDF). National Security Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Anne Gearan (7 June 2013). "'No Such Agency' spies on the communications of the world". The Washington Post . Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  11. ↑ Whitehead, Jennifer (13 October 2005). "MI6 to boost recruitment prospects with launch of first website — Brand Republic News". Brandrepublic.com. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  12. ↑ Grant, Thomas (2015). Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories. John Murray. p. 315.
  13. ↑ "No title". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . House of Commons. 19 February 1993. col. 634.
  14. 1 2 "London Telecom Tower, formerly BT Tower and Post Office Tower, Fitzrovia, West End, London". urban75. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  15. ↑ Kennett, Paul (August 2016). "Not so secret tower". Sheetlines. THE CHARLES CLOSE SOCIETY for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps (106): 27. (The Charles Close Society)
  16. ↑ A–Z London de luxe Atlas. Geographers' A–Z Map Company Ltd. 1984. p. 59.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Avner (1998). Israel and the Bomb . Columbia University Press. p.  349. ISBN   0-231-10482-0.
  18. ↑ Korb, Lawrence (1 November 1998). "The Quiet Bomb". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  19. ↑ Borger, Julian (15 January 2014). "The truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  20. ↑ Stockman, Farah (19 November 2013). "Israel's nuclear precedent". The Boston Blobe. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  21. ↑ Mizokami, Kyle (9 January 2020). "Submarines Are the Key To Israel's Secret Nuclear Weapons Arsenal". TheNationalInterest.org. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  22. ↑ "Secret base to be shuttered over failed airline talks: source". CTV News. 10 October 2010. Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  23. ↑ Foster, Patrick (19 January 2009). "Identity of Top Gear's The Stig revealed as Ben Collins". The Times . Retrieved 19 January 2009. The identity of the white-suited Stig ... has been an open secret within the motoring world for some years, with newspapers refraining from publishing his name, to uphold the spirit of the programme.
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