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This list covers security clearance terms used in the United States of America. Within the U.S. government, security clearance levels serve as a mechanism to ascertain which individuals are authorized to access sensitive or classified information.
A United States security clearance is an official determination that an individual may access information classified by the United States Government.Security clearances are hierarchical; each level grants the holder access to information in that level and the levels below it.
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check.
Top Secret is the highest level of classification. However some information is further categorized/marked by adding a code word so that only those who have been cleared for each code word can see it. A document marked SECRET (CODE WORD) could be viewed only by a person with a secret or top secret clearance and that specific code word clearance.
A Q Clearance is equivalent to a U.S. Department of Defense Top Secret clearance. [2] According to the Department of Energy, "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]
SCI is not a classification; SCI clearance has sometimes been called "above Top Secret", [2] but information at any classification level may exist within an SCI control system. When "decompartmentalized", this information is treated the same as collateral information at the same classification level.
A BIGOT list (or bigot list) is a list of personnel possessing appropriate security clearance and who are cleared to know details of a particular operation, or other sensitive information. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
DOD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), 28 February, 2006; DODD 5200.1-R, Information Security Program, January 1997; EO 13526, Classified National Security Information, 29 December 2009; Intelligence Community Authorized Classification and Control Markings, Register and Manual, vol. 5, no. 1, (2012)