Q clearance

Last updated
Q clearance
Seal of the United States Department of Energy.svg
Seal of the U. S. Department of Energy

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, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information. [1] [2] Access to Restricted Data is only granted on a need-to-know basis to personnel with appropriate clearances.

Contents

A Q Clearance is equivalent to a U.S. Department of Defense Top Secret clearance. [2] "...the Q access authorization corresponds to the background investigation and administrative determination similar to what is completed by other agencies for a Top Secret National Security Information access clearance." [2]

Anyone possessing an active Q clearance is always categorized as holding a National Security Critical-Sensitive position (sensitivity Level 3). [3] Additionally, most Q-cleared incumbents will have collateral responsibilities designating them as Level 4: National Security Special-Sensitive personnel. [4] With these two designations standing as the highest-risk sensitivity levels, occupants of these positions hold extraordinary accountability, having the potential to cause "exceptionally grave" or "inestimable" damage to the national security of the United States. [5]

Access authorizations based on clearance level Dataaccess.tiff
Access authorizations based on clearance level

In addition to classification levels, three categories of classified matter are identified: Restricted Data (RD), Formerly Restricted Data (FRD), and National Security Information (NSI), as well as a class of access-restricted materials: special nuclear material (SNM). The employee must have a security level clearance consistent with their assignment. Common combinations are reflected in the table on the right/above. [6]

Much of the DOE information at this level requires access to Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI, pronounced "SIN-widee"). [7] Such information bears the page marking Top Secret//RD-CNWDI and the paragraph marking (TS-N) or (TS//RD-CNWDI). The DOE security clearance process is overseen by the Department of Energy Office of Hearings and Appeals.

DOE clearances apply for access specifically relating to atomic or nuclear related materials ("Restricted Data" under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954). The clearance is issued predominantly to non-military personnel. In 1946, U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps Major William L. Uanna, in his capacity as the first Chief of the Central Personnel Clearance Office at the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission, named and established the criteria for the Q Clearance. [8] The security clearance process at the DOE is adjudicated by the DOE Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA), where an individual whose security clearance is at issue may seek to appeal a security clearance decision to an administrative judge, and subsequently, to an appeal panel. [9]

As of 1993, Q Clearances required a single-scope background investigation of the previous ten years of the applicant's life by both the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as of 2019, cost $5,596. [10]

As of April 2021, there were 92,177 people who held a Q clearance. [11]

"Q" Clearance was a 1986 novel by Peter Benchley, satirizing Cold War secrecy and politics. [12] [13]

In "Nellis", episode 7 of season 6 of the television show Archer , Sterling Archer uses a Q clearance to gain access to Area 51 after landing illegally on the airstrip.[ citation needed ]

In Robert Heinlein's 1956 novel The Door Into Summer , the narrator says his pre-1960 Q clearance let him "soak up" much classified technology.

In the 2022 movie Moonfall Jocinda Fowler, played by actress Halle Berry, is given Q clearance by the director of NASA (Albert Hutchings) who gives her his ID access badge once he determines that collision with the Moon is imminent.

In the 2023 film Oppenheimer , the 1954 security hearing to review J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Q clearance is a central focus.

In politics

The QAnon conspiracy theory is named such because the 4chan and 8chan poster, who in 2017 created the persona behind the conspiracy theory, claims to be an individual with Q level security clearance. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Alamos National Laboratory</span> Laboratory near Santa Fe, New Mexico

Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the American southwest. Best known for its central role in helping develop the first atomic bomb, LANL is one of the world's largest and most advanced scientific institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Robert Oppenheimer</span> American theoretical physicist (1904–1967)

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Energy</span> U.S. government department regulating energy production and nuclear material handling

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy-related research, and domestic energy production and energy conservation.

<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, and mishandling of the material can incur criminal penalties.

A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal process to vet employees for access to sensitive information. A clearance by itself is normally not sufficient to gain access; the organization must also determine that the cleared individual needs to know specific information. No individual is supposed to be granted automatic access to classified information solely because of rank, position, or a security clearance.

Wen Ho Lee or Li Wenho is a Taiwanese-American nuclear scientist and a mechanical engineer who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He created computerized simulations of nuclear explosions for the purposes of scientific inquiry, as well as for improving the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

<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.

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.

The United States government classification system is established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic 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">Nuclear Emergency Support Team</span> US federal government organization

The Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST), formerly known as the Nuclear Emergency Search Team is a team of scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). NEST is the umbrella designation that encompasses all DOE/NNSA radiological and nuclear emergency response functions; some of which date back more than 60 years. NEST's responsibilities include both national security missions, particularly; countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and public health and safety, including responses to nuclear reactor accidents. NEST's task is to be 'prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or incident anywhere in the world'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L clearance</span>

An L clearance is a security clearance used by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission for civilian access relating to nuclear materials and information under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It is equivalent to a United States Department of Defense (DOD) Secret clearance.

The U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Secure Transportation (OST) provides safe and secure transportation of nuclear weapons and components and special nuclear materials, and conducts other missions supporting the national security of the United States of America.

The National Industrial Security Program, or NISP, is the nominal authority in the United States for managing the needs of private industry to access classified information.

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">Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence</span> US government agency

The Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OICI), also abbreviated IN, DOE-IN, DOE/IN, I&CI, or OIC, was established in 2006 by the merger of pre-existing Energy Department intelligence and security organizations. It is an office of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for all intelligence and counterintelligence activities throughout the DOE complex; due to this central role, OICI is designated DOE's Headquarters Intelligence. As a component of the United States Intelligence Community in addition to the Department of Energy, OICI reports to both the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restricted Data</span>

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:

Abdel-Moniem ibn Ali El-Ganayni is an Egyptian-born American nuclear physicist, former prison Imam, and an active member of the Pittsburgh Muslim community. In 2007 El-Ganayni's U.S. security clearance was revoked, and he subsequently lost his job as a senior scientist at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oppenheimer security hearing</span> 1954 United States Atomic Energy Commission investigation

In 1954, a four-week hearing conducted by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) explored the background, actions, and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist who had headed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, where he played a key part in the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. The hearing resulted in Oppenheimer's Q clearance being revoked. This marked the end of his formal relationship with the government of the United States, and generated considerable controversy regarding whether the treatment of Oppenheimer was fair, or whether it was an expression of anti-communist McCarthyism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caribou Air Force Station</span>

Caribou Air Force Station, also known as North River Depot and East Loring, is a defunct Air Force Station that operated from 1951 until its absorption into Loring Air Force Base in 1962. It was located in Limestone, Maine, adjacent to Loring. Between 1951 and 1962 Caribou was an Operational Storage Site for Air Materiel Command (AMC-OSS), one of five in the United States, and the weapons storage and maintenance facility for Loring alert aircraft.

References

  1. ↑ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Clearance Processing Archived October 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 15, 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 "Departmental Personnel Security FAQs". U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  3. ↑ "OPM Position Designation Tool" (PDF). United States Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Federal Suitability Security Clearance Chart" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Executive Order 12356". www.archives.gov. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2021. Section 1.1 (a) (1) "'Top Secret' shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security."
  6. ↑ "Chapter 3 Personnel Security" (PDF). Department of Energy. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Security | UK-USA Classification Equivalency Table | Los Alamos National Laboratory Archived May 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Girod, Robert J. (2014). Advanced Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Operations: Tradecraft Methods, Practices, Tactics, and Techniques. Boca Raton: Crc Press. p. 23. ISBN   9781482230727. OCLC   910531708.
  9. ↑ The DOE Security Clearance Process, Security Clearance Blog, July 7, 2015
  10. ↑ "Billing Rates". www.dcsa.mil.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ Wellerstein, Alex (November 12, 2021). "How many people have Q Clearance?". Restricted Data. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  12. ↑ Hardback: ISBN   978-0394553603
  13. ↑ "Q Clearance".
  14. ↑ "There is a bizarre conspiracy theory called QAnon. Here's what it actually is". The Independent. 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
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.