holding it back sometimes just makes it worse
most of the information about clearances and classification relates to the united states government classification systems established by the director of the central intelligence agency — utilized under executive order 13292 (amending eo 12958) issued by president george w. bush in 2003; this executive order lays out the system of classification for information handled by the united states government and its employees, contractors, and industrial firms, handling classified information. the desired degree of secrecy about such information is known as its sensitivity. sensitivity is based upon a calculation as to the damage to "national security". the united states has three levels of classification — confidential, secret, and top secret. each level of classification indicates an increasing degree of sensitivity — top-secret being the highest, and confidential being the lowest. if one holds a "top-secret" clearance, one is allowed to handle information up to the level of "top-secret" (thus, secret, and confidential information). if one holds a "secret" clearance, one may not then handle "top-secret" information, but may handle confidential classified information.
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