Secrecy#Military

{{Main|Sociological aspects of secrecy}}

Animals conceal the location of their den or nest from predators. Squirrels bury nuts, hiding them, and they try to remember their locations later.{{Cite web|last=November 2018|first=Emma Bryce-Live Science Contributor 17|title=How Do Squirrels Remember Where They Buried Their Nuts?|url=https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buried-nuts.html|access-date=2020-06-03|website=livescience.com|date=17 November 2018|language=en}}

Humans attempt to consciously conceal aspects of themselves from others due to shame, or from fear of violence, rejection, harassment, loss of acceptance, or loss of employment. Humans may also attempt to conceal aspects of their own self which they are not capable of incorporating psychologically into their conscious being. Families sometimes maintain "family secrets", obliging family members never to discuss disagreeable issues concerning the family with outsiders or sometimes even within the family. Many "family secrets" are maintained by using a mutually agreed-upon construct (an official family story) when speaking with outside members. Agreement to maintain the secret is often coerced through "shaming" and reference to family honor. The information may even be something as trivial as a recipe.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

File:Moritz_Stifter_Das_Geheimnis_1885.jpg, 1885]]

Secrets are sometimes kept to provide the pleasure of surprise. This includes keeping secret about a surprise party, not telling spoilers of a story, and avoiding exposure of a magic trick.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Keeping one's strategy secret{{Nbsp}}– is important in many aspects of game theory.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

In anthropology secret sharing is one way for people to establish traditional relations with other people.{{Cite journal|last1=Manderson|first1=Lenore|last2=Davis|first2=Mark|last3=Colwell|first3=Chip|last4=Ahlin|first4=Tanja|date=December 2015|title=On Secrecy, Disclosure, the Public, and the Private in Anthropology: An Introduction to Supplement 12|journal=Current Anthropology|language=en|volume=56|issue=S12|pages=S183–S190|doi=10.1086/683302|s2cid=147148098|issn=0011-3204}} A commonly used{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} narrative that describes this kind of behavior is Joseph Conrad's short story "The Secret Sharer".{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Governments often attempt to conceal information from other governments and the public. These state secrets can include weapon designs, military plans, diplomatic negotiation tactics, and secrets obtained illicitly from others ("intelligence"). Most nations have some form of Official Secrets Act (the Espionage Act in the U.S.) and classify material according to the level of protection needed (hence the term "classified information"). An individual needs a [http://mdod.maryland.gov/employment/Documents/job%20seeker%20documents/Security%20Clearance%2004.18.10.pdf security clearance] for access and other protection methods, such as keeping documents in a safe, are stipulated.{{Cite web|last=Government of Canada|first=Public Services and Procurement Canada|date=2017-12-12|title=Chapter 5: Handling and safeguarding of classified and protected information and assets – Industrial Security Manual – Security requirements for contracting with the Government of Canada – Canada.ca|url=https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/esc-src/msi-ism/chap5-eng.html|access-date=2020-06-03|website=www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca}}

Few people dispute the desirability of keeping Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information secret, but many believe government secrecy to be excessive and too often employed for political purposes. Many countries have laws that attempt to limit government secrecy, such as the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and sunshine laws. Government officials sometimes leak information they are supposed to keep secret. (For a recent (2005) example, see Plame affair.){{Cite web|title=- THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: ENSURING TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112shrg73178/html/CHRG-112shrg73178.htm|access-date=2020-06-03|website=www.govinfo.gov}}

Secrecy in elections is a growing issue, particularly secrecy of vote counts on computerized vote counting machines. While voting, citizens are acting in a unique sovereign or "owner" capacity (instead of being a subject of the laws, as is true outside of elections) in selecting their government servants. It is argued that secrecy is impermissible as against the public in the area of elections where the government gets all of its power and taxing authority. In any event, permissible secrecy varies significantly with the context involved.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Organizations, ranging from multi-national for profit corporations to nonprofit charities, keep secrets for [https://www.ijaiem.org/volume2issue12/IJAIEM-2013-12-04-004.pdf competitive advantage], to meet legal requirements, or, in some cases, to conceal nefarious behavior. {{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}New products under development, unique manufacturing techniques, or simply lists of customers are types of information protected by trade secret laws.

Research on corporate secrecy has studied the factors supporting secret organizations.{{Cite journal|last1=Baker|first1=Wayne E.|last2=Faulkner|first2=Robert R.|date=1993|title=The Social Organization of Conspiracy: Illegal Networks in the Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry|journal=American Sociological Review|volume=58|issue=6|pages=837–860|doi=10.2307/2095954|jstor=2095954|issn=0003-1224}} In particular, scholars in economics and management have paid attention to the way firms participating in cartels work together to maintain secrecy and conceal their activities from antitrust authorities.{{Cite journal|last1=Faulkner|first1=Robert R.|last2=Cheney|first2=Eric R.|last3=Fisher|first3=Gene A.|last4=Baker|first4=Wayne E. |date=2003 |title=Crime by Committee: Conspirators and Company Men in the Illegal Electrical Industry Cartel, 1954–1959 |journal=Criminology |language=en |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=511–554 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb00996.x|issn=1745-9125}} The diversity of the participants (in terms of age and size of the firms) influences their ability to coordinate to avoid being detected.

The patent system encourages inventors to publish information in exchange for a limited time monopoly on its use, though patent applications are initially secret. Secret societies use secrecy as a way to attract members by creating a sense of importance.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Shell companies may be used to launder money from criminal activity, to finance terrorism, or to evade taxes. Registers of beneficial ownership aim at fighting corporate secrecy in that sense.{{Cite web|title=How Anonymous Shell Companies Finance Insurgents, Criminals, and Dictators|url=https://www.cfr.org/report/how-anonymous-shell-companies-finance-insurgents-criminals-and-dictators|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Council on Foreign Relations|language=en}}

Other laws require organizations to keep certain information secret, such as medical records (HIPAA in the U.S.), or financial reports that are under preparation (to limit insider trading). Europe has particularly strict laws about database privacy.{{Cite web|title=Data protection in the EU|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-protection-eu_en|access-date=2020-06-03|website=European Commission - European Commission|language=en}}

File:Das_Geheimnis_-_Le_secret.jpg]]

{{See also|Full disclosure (computer security)|Kerckhoffs' principle|security through obscurity}}

Preservation of secrets is one of the goals of information security. Techniques used include physical security and cryptography. The latter depends on the secrecy of [https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ssl/what-is-a-cryptographic-key/ cryptographic keys]. Many believe that security technology can be more effective if it itself is not kept secret.{{Cite book|url=https://www.nap.edu/read/1581/chapter/4|title=Read "Computers at Risk: Safe Computing in the Information Age" at NAP.edu|year=1991|doi=10.17226/1581|isbn=978-0-309-04388-5|language=en}}

[https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~dberry/COURSES/software.engr/lectures.pdf/inf_hiding.pdf Information hiding] is a design principle in much software engineering. It is considered easier to verify software reliability if one can be sure that different parts of the program can only access (and therefore depend on) a known limited amount of information.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

File:Edmund_Blair_Leighton_-_A_Stolen_interview.jpg]]

{{See also|Military intelligence|Born secret}}

Military secrecy is the concealing of information about martial affairs that is purposely not made available to the general public and hence to any enemy, in order to gain an advantage or to not reveal a weakness, to avoid embarrassment, or to help in propaganda efforts. Most military secrets are tactical in nature, such as the strengths and weaknesses of weapon systems, tactics, training methods, plans, and the number and location of specific weapons. Some secrets involve information in broader areas, such as secure communications, cryptography, intelligence operations, and cooperation with third parties.{{Cite web|title=Digital Open Source Intelligence and International Security: A Primer|url=https://edam.org.tr/en/digital-open-source-intelligence-and-international-security-a-primer/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=edam.org.tr|date=17 July 2018|language=en-GB}}

US Government rights in regard to military secrecy were uphold in the landmark legal case of United States v. Reynolds, decided by the Supreme Court in 1953.US Supreme Court, [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/345/1/ United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1 (1953)], decided 8 March 1953, accessed 5 April 2023

Excessive secrecy is often cited{{Cite journal|url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/53109/1/MPRA_paper_53109.pdf|title=Information asymmetry and power in a surveillance society|first1=Geoffrey|last1=Lightfoot|first2=Tomasz Piotr|last2=Wisniewski|journal=Information and Organization|volume=24|issue=4|pages=214–235|year=2014|doi=10.1016/j.infoandorg.2014.09.001 }} as a source of much human conflict. One may have to lie in order to hold a secret, which might lead to psychological repercussions.{{Original research inline|date=June 2010}} The alternative, declining to answer when asked something, may suggest the answer and may therefore not always be suitable for keeping a secret. Also, the other may insist that one answer the question.{{Synthesis inline|date=June 2010}}

Nearly 2500 years ago, Sophocles{{Who?|date=September 2023}} wrote: 'Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.'.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} Gautama Siddhartha said: "Three things cannot long stay hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.".

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ambiguity
• Banking secrecy
• Black project
• Clandestine cell system
• Classified information
• Concealment device
• Confidentiality
• Conspiracy theory
• Covert operation
• Cover-up
• Deception
• Don't ask, don't tell
• Espionage
• Freedom of information legislation
• Media transparency
• Need to know
• Open secret
• Secrecy (sociology)
• Secret passage
• Secret sharing
• Self-concealment
• Somebody Else's Problem
• Smuggling
• State Secrets Privilege
• Sub rosa
• WikiLeaks

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book|last=Arnold|first=Jason Ross|title=Secrecy in the Sunshine Era: The Promise and Failures of U.S. Open Government Laws|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=2014|isbn=978-0700619924|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780700619924}}*
• {{Cite journal | last = Birchall | first = Clare | title ="There's been too much secrecy in this City": The false choice between secrecy and transparency in US politics | journal = Cultural Politics | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 133–156 | doi = 10.2752/175174311X12861940861905 | date = March 2011 }}
• {{Cite journal | last = Birchall | first = Clare | title =Introduction to secrecy and transparency: the politics of opacity and openness | journal = Theory, Culture & Society | volume = 28 | issue = 7–8 | pages = 7–25 | doi = 10.1177/0263276411427744 | date = December 2011 | s2cid = 145098295 }}
• {{Cite journal | last = Birchall | first = Clare | title = Transparency interrupted: secrets of the left | journal = Theory, Culture & Society | volume = 28 | issue = 7–8 | pages = 60–84 | doi = 10.1177/0263276411423040 | date = December 2011 | s2cid = 144862855 }}
• {{cite book | last = Bok | first = Sissela | title = Secrets: on the ethics of concealment and revelation | publisher = Vintage Books | location = New York | year = 1989 | isbn = 9780679724735 }}
• {{cite news | last = Canal | first = Vicente Aceituno | title = How secret is a secret? | work = ISSA Journal | url = http://www.slideshare.net/vaceituno/aceituno-canal-how-secret-is-a-secret | date = April 2006 }}
• {{cite book | last = Gidiere III | first = P. Stephen | title = The federal information manual: how the government collects, manages, and discloses information under FOIA and other statutes | publisher = American Bar Association | location = Chicago | year = 2006 | isbn = 9781590315798 }}
• {{cite journal | editor-last = Maret| editor-first = Susan | title = Government secrecy, Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, vol. 19 | journal = Research in Social Problems and Public Policy | publisher = Emerald | location = Bingley, UK | year = 2014 | issn = 0196-1152 }}
• {{cite book | last = Plunkett | first = Geoff | title = Death by mustard gas: how military secrecy and lost weapons can kill | publisher = Big Sky Publishing | location = Newport, New South Wales | year = 2014 | isbn = 9781922132918 }}
• {{cite book | last = Roberts | first = Alasdair | author-link = Alasdair Roberts (academic) | title = Blacked out: government secrecy in the information age | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge New York | year = 2006 | isbn = 9780521858700 }}
• {{cite book | last = Schneier | first = Bruce | author-link = Bruce Schneier | title = Secrets and lies: digital security in a networked world | publisher = Wiley | location = Indianapolis, Indiana | year = 2004 | isbn = 9780471453802 }}
• {{cite web | title = Secrecy Legal News and Research | date=10 December 2024 | url = http://jurist.org/jurist_search.php?q=Secrecy | publisher = JURIST }}
• {{citation | last = Taylor | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Taylor (dramatist) | contribution = Sir Henry Taylor (1800-86): On secrecy | editor-last = Gross | editor-first = John J. | title = The Oxford book of essays | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford England New York | year = 1991 | isbn = 9780192141859 | postscript = . | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordbookofessa00gros }}

::Also available as: {{citation | last = Taylor | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Taylor (dramatist) | contribution = On secrecy | editor-last = Taylor | editor-first = Henry | editor-link = Henry Taylor (dramatist) | title = The statesman | pages = 128–131 | publisher = Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman | location = London | year = 1836 | oclc = 4790233 | postscript = .}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmwBAAAAYAAJ Preview.]

{{refend}}

• {{cite book |title=Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are |year=2018 |publisher= Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0062390868 |author=Seth Stephens-Davidowitz}}

{{Commons category}}

{{wikiquote|Secrets}}

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{{Wiktionary|secret|covert}}

• [http://liquidbooks.pbworks.com/w/page/39188133/Transparency%20and%20Secrecy An Open Source Collection of Readings on Secrecy]
• [https://fas.org/blog/secrecy/ Secrecy News] from the Federation of American Scientists

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Category:Classified information