# Classified information in the US. How long? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580 "2004-03-26T15:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/1 "2004-03-26T15:15:58Z")
How long does classified information remain classified in the U.S.? Is there a standard time, or does it vary depending on degree of classification and/or other circumstances? Are there still any 19th-century classified documents? Are some documents to be classified forever? Thanking you in advance… Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/2 "2004-03-26T15:36:11Z")
Clinton issued Executive Order 12958, saying, among other things, that all documents are to be automatically declassified after 25 years, unless the issuing agency, following the guidelines set forth in the order, decides it should stay classified. [http://www.dss.mil/seclib/eo12958.htm](http://www.dss.mil/seclib/eo12958.htm) President Bush amended that executive order in 2003, but the 25 year provision is also in the amended order. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030325-11.html](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030325-11.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/3 "2004-03-26T19:32:31Z")
Those “other circumstances” you mentioned do ocassionally cut short the lifetime of a classified document: > [@](#): > > Key Republicans in Congress sought Friday to declassify two-year-old testimony by former White House aide Richard Clarke, suggesting he may have lied this week when he faulted President Bush handling of the war on terror. [GOP Moves to Declassify Clarke Testimony](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040326/ap_on_go_co/clarke_congress) ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/4 "2004-03-26T19:42:59Z")
Thank you **Captain Amazing** and **Squink** for your responses. So that means that the government has no secrets older than 1979? No hidden files on the Kennedy assassination? Nothing still secret from World War Two? No secret “John Wilkes Booth” file? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/5 "2004-03-26T20:05:15Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > Thank you **Captain Amazing** and **Squink** for your responses. > > So that means that the government has no secrets older than 1979? No hidden files on the Kennedy assassination? Nothing still secret from World War Two? No secret “John Wilkes Booth” file? > > Zev Steinhardt Not at all: > [@](#): > > a.Information shall be declassified as soon as it no longer meets the standards for classification under this order. > \*\*b. It is presumed that information that continues to meet the classification requirements under this order requires continued protection. … \*\* It’s just basically supposed to com eup for automatic review after 25 years, and that teh DEFAULT position is “Declassify.” However, if the authority that set it up still needs it to be kept secret (say, the circa 1975 codes to some aging nukes, or the alien spacecraft at Area 51), then it continues to be secret. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classified-information-in-the-us-how-long/236580/6 "2004-03-26T20:13:33Z")
No, the exceptions are part of the classification. At the bottom of all classified documents you are required to mark the “declassify on” block, which can be a date “Declassify on 27 March 2029” or one of the exceptions (“Exes”), to wit: An item is exempt from declassification at the ten-year point if its release would… - X1. Reveal an intelligence **source, method, or activity,** or a cryptologic system or activity. X2. Reveal information that would assist in the development or use of **weapons of mass destruction.** X3. Reveal information that would impair the development or use of technology within a **United States weapons system.** X4. Reveal United States military **plans** or national security emergency preparedness plans. X5. Reveal **foreign government information.** X6. Damage relations between the United States and a foreign government, reveal a confidential source, or seriously undermine **diplomatic activities** that are reasonably expected to be ongoing for a period greater than 10 years. X7. Impair the ability of responsible United States Government officials to **protect the President,** the Vice President, and other individuals for whom protection services, in the interest of national security, are authorized. X8. Violate a statute, **treaty** or international Agreement. \* Cite: Classification Marking Guide at [http://www.wasc.noaa.gov/wrso/briefings/DOD%20Marking%20Guide.ppt](http://www.wasc.noaa.gov/wrso/briefings/DOD%20Marking%20Guide.ppt) I had to learn these to mark classified documents; the bolding above is my own, and is how I referred to these exemptions shorthand. For instance, when someone asked “what’s X1 again,” the answer was “sources and methods”. Anything marked X1, for example, could remain classified for as long as the source or method used to collect that information was believed to be important. If we had _for example_ used a telepath to invade Khrushchev’s mind in the 1960s, then as long as we believed that source (or method!) to be useful – for example, if we thought we had a shot at using telepaths again, as long as the enemy weren’t aware of our attempts to do so – then we could keep all of those documents “X1” indefinitely. If Poland assassinated JFK because they mistook him for an enemy of the state, and then confessed to it when they joined NATO, it would become X5 or X6, and could remain so indefinitely. If there’s a secret tunnel JFK used to get out of the White House, and its location is still unknown, that tunnel’s location is (and will be indefinitely) X7. One last note: documents are never just listed by their exemption. The location of the tunnel might be marked CONFIDENTIAL//X7; the telepath papers might be TOP SECRET//CLYDESDALE//X1,X3,X5. Good luck getting the latter declassified.