# Is it true that classified information is not allowed on the internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374 "2016-02-17T20:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/1 "2016-02-17T20:03:12Z")
Is it true that US law does not allow classified information to be sent through the internet? I was under the impression that the military/feds had two parallel internets (JWCIS was one I believe) for secret and top secret info? Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/2 "2016-02-17T20:46:48Z")
From Department of [Defense Manual 5200.01 Volume 3 (Feb 24th, 2012)](http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/520001_vol3.pdf){PDF}, page 54 (Enclosure 4, Section 3 (Transmission of Top Secret Information), subsection b): > [@](#): > > Electronic means over an approved secure communications system (i.e., a cryptographic system authorized by the Director, NSA, or a protected distribution system designed and installed to meet the requirements of National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Instruction (NSTISSI) 7003 (Reference (ay))) . This applies to voice, data, message (both organizational and e-mail), and facsimile transmissions. Sections 4 and 5 of Enclosure 4 concern Secret and Confidential classifications and the above method is allowed. I don’t see anything else about transmitting any classified information over the internet “in the clear”. So the answer is “YES” as long as the information is encrypted per NSA standards. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/3 "2016-02-17T20:48:41Z")
There are special control systems for classified information. If you’re referring to JWCIS as the internet, then yes it’s allowed. If you’re talking about the open internet like gmail and yahoo, then no it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/4 "2016-02-17T20:51:25Z")
JWICS for Top Secret; SIPRNET for Secret and Confidential. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/5 "2016-02-17T21:13:33Z")
Keep in mind that these communication networks that are approved for the transmission of classified information are also used for just about all information. Generally speaking there’s no separate server for classified or unclassified, the encryption is cheap enough we just send all the information through the classified server. We used Top Secret keying material, but I don’t recall any top secret information coming across, and rarely secret information. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/6 "2016-02-17T21:16:56Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > There are special control systems for classified information. I was going to respond to this, but I decided I couldn’t in GQ. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/7 "2016-02-17T21:25:31Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Keep in mind that these communication networks that are approved for the transmission of classified information are also used for just about all information. Generally speaking there’s no separate server for classified or unclassified, the encryption is cheap enough we just send all the information through the classified server. We used Top Secret keying material, but I don’t recall any top secret information coming across, and rarely secret information. I think you are saying that servers on SIPRNET handle both classified and unclassified material. That is true. I don’t believe that classified information is ever handled on unclassified servers. Perhaps you are saying that classified but encrypted material is transmitted via unclassified networks? That would surprise me. Certainly SIPRNET maintains it’s own set of leased and protected lines for transmitting data. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/8 "2016-02-17T21:58:11Z")
**Is it true that classified information is not allowed on the internet?** If we told you the answer, we’d have to kill you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/9 "2016-02-17T22:18:35Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > I think you are saying that servers on SIPRNET handle both classified and unclassified material. That is true. I don’t believe that classified information is ever handled on unclassified servers. Perhaps you are saying that classified but encrypted material is transmitted via unclassified networks? That would surprise me. Certainly SIPRNET maintains it’s own set of leased and protected lines for transmitting data. That may be true today, my experience is from the mid 1980’s. Yes indeed we used the local telephone lines to transmit classified information, once properly encrypted. The microwave shot we used was across “international waters” and there was at all times a Soviet “fishing trawler” bristling with antennas underneath. That was secure enough for Air Force Command level communications. Consider the secretary typing into a computer some classified document that’s being stored on the internal hard-drive. Is this computer connect to the regular internet, such that the secretary can quick check their g-mail account? My guess is no, this computer is physically separate and only connected to the military internet and/or the computer is connected to an intranet that is encrypted before it connects to the regular internet. Again, just guessing about how things are done today … only that Top Secret information must be encrypted (per NSA standards) before it’s transmitted electronically ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/10 "2016-02-18T01:12:39Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > If you’re referring to JWCIS as the internet… I have no special knowledge on this but in reading about JWCIS it appears that it is decidedly not the Internet but a separate network (although I suppose it uses TCP/IP). ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/11 "2016-02-18T01:38:58Z")
Do civilian government agencies use JWCIS and SIPRNET or are those only for the military? Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/12 "2016-02-18T03:34:28Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > Do civilian government agencies use JWCIS and SIPRNET or are those only for the military? > > Thanks, > Rob > **[Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Worldwide_Intelligence_Communications_System)** > > The Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS, /ˈdʒeɪwɪks/ JAY-wiks) is the United States Department of Defense's secure\[citation needed\] intranet system that houses top secret and sensitive compartmented information. JWICS superseded the earlier DSNET2 and DSNET3, the Top Secret and SCI levels of the Defense Data Network based on ARPANET technology. > The system deals primarily with intelligence information and was one of the networks accessed by Chelsea Manning, in the leaking of ... I’d comment but I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/13 "2016-02-18T13:44:00Z")
Civilian agencies use various systems, including SIPRNET and JWICS. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject. And to clarify, someone working on a SIPRNET system can’t just hop on Google or Yahoo. It is possible to send data across the various networks, but the architecture is set up in such a way that only a certified hub at the S6 is permitted to pass data from one to the other. As for the OP’s question… No, classified data is not permitted to be sent over the regular, unencrypted internet. That said, once something is placed on the civilian internet it is impossible to remove. The courts have consistently held that the government doesn’t have the right to censor publication of classified material once it has made its way into the public, even if the method by which this occurred was illegal. Even if, hypothetically, the courts did authorize the censorship of classified material, there is no way the government could actually accomplish this. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-classified-information-is-not-allowed-on-the-internet/746374/14 "2016-02-18T13:48:13Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have no special knowledge on this but in reading about JWCIS it appears that it is decidedly not the Internet but a separate network (although I suppose it uses TCP/IP). Right. I was just going by how the OP framed the question.