There is a confusion that I found in some HL7 documents, perhaps copied from some ISO documents, about how US Security classification terms work. They seem to think that these are sensitivity terms. In fact, they are much closer to consent OIDs and confidentiality categories.
The simple form of US categories is:
The rules are of course more complex than that over-simplification. There are also need-to-know rules. These are vary similar to the patient and role-based rules found in healthcare. Regardless of clearance levels, a classified document should only be disclosed to people who have a need to know. This is usually because they are working on the project (analogous to Patient ID) and on a specific aspect of the project (analogous to role-based access).
There are also project or category specific access terms, which can generically be called codeword access. Gaining codeword access requires additional clearance effort. This may be merely an administrative matter or it may require substantial background investigations and other steps. These usually require (but not always) a top secret clearance. There is a large number of codeword projects and the codewords themselves are sometimes secret. This kind of clearance is generically called "Special Access" and "Special Compartmentalized Intelligance". But their operation is very much like a consent OID. The difference from the general form is that it also has codeword specific clearance activity.
A document that is "Top Secret" with code word "Wet Cat" is only disclosable to someone approved for "Top Secret - Wet Cat". That is basically the same as a document coded as available to any person approved for OID 1.2.3.4.5. Both are opaque pointers that reveal nothing about the nature of the sensitivity. You don't know whether "Wet Cat" is related to diplomatic activity, weapons technology, intelligence gathering, or anything else. You don't know what the implications or severity of an unauthorized release will be. All this is hidden, and that is by design. The nature of sensitivity is itself often sensitive information. This is like the healthcare consent model.
So there is a very clear misunderstanding in these documents when thay claim that these are sensitivity categories.
The simple form of US categories is:
- Confidential
- Secret
- Top Secret
The rules are of course more complex than that over-simplification. There are also need-to-know rules. These are vary similar to the patient and role-based rules found in healthcare. Regardless of clearance levels, a classified document should only be disclosed to people who have a need to know. This is usually because they are working on the project (analogous to Patient ID) and on a specific aspect of the project (analogous to role-based access).
There are also project or category specific access terms, which can generically be called codeword access. Gaining codeword access requires additional clearance effort. This may be merely an administrative matter or it may require substantial background investigations and other steps. These usually require (but not always) a top secret clearance. There is a large number of codeword projects and the codewords themselves are sometimes secret. This kind of clearance is generically called "Special Access" and "Special Compartmentalized Intelligance". But their operation is very much like a consent OID. The difference from the general form is that it also has codeword specific clearance activity.
A document that is "Top Secret" with code word "Wet Cat" is only disclosable to someone approved for "Top Secret - Wet Cat". That is basically the same as a document coded as available to any person approved for OID 1.2.3.4.5. Both are opaque pointers that reveal nothing about the nature of the sensitivity. You don't know whether "Wet Cat" is related to diplomatic activity, weapons technology, intelligence gathering, or anything else. You don't know what the implications or severity of an unauthorized release will be. All this is hidden, and that is by design. The nature of sensitivity is itself often sensitive information. This is like the healthcare consent model.
So there is a very clear misunderstanding in these documents when thay claim that these are sensitivity categories.
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