Restricted Data (RD) is a category of

classified information in the United States The United States government classification system is established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic of classified information beginning in 1951. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, E ...

that is defined by the

Atomic Energy Act of 1954 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2011–2021, 2022-2286i, 2296a-2297h-13, is a United States federal law that covers for the development, regulation, and disposal of nuclear materials and facilities in the United States. It was an ...

as: :''all data concerning (1) design, manufacture, or utilization of

atomic weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...

; (2) the production of

special nuclear material Special nuclear material (SNM) is a term used by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to classify fissile materials. The NRC divides special nuclear material into three main categories, according to the risk and potential for its direc ...

; or (3) the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy, but shall not include data declassified or removed from the Restricted Data category pursuant to section 142 f the Act''Atomic Energy Act of 1954
Chapter 2, Section 11(y). The fact that its legal definition includes "all data" except that already specifically declassified has been interpreted to mean that atomic energy information in the United States is born classified, even if it was not created by any agency of the U.S. government. The authority of the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

(DOE) to implement this authority as a form of

prior restraint Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...

was only once tested in court, with inconclusive results. "Restricted Data" should not be confused with the classification category of " Restricted", a relatively low category of classification. "Restricted Data" is not a level of classification; rather, a document can be classified as Confidential,

Secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controver ...

, or

Top Secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...

, while also containing "Restricted Data." In addition, a document containing Restricted Data could also contain Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI). In this way, a document, for instance, could be classified as "Secret" (S), "Secret//Restricted Data" (S//RD), or "Secret//Restricted Data-Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information" (S//RD-CNWDI) depending on the type of information a document contains. Access to Restricted Data requires an L clearance or a Q clearance from the Department of Energy.

History

The concept was initially introduced, with similar wording, in the

Atomic Energy Act of 1946 The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most significantly, the Act ru ...

. It was added at a relatively late moment to the bill by its creators, after the Gouzenko affair was leaked to the press and caused a fear of loss of "the secret" of the atomic bomb, as well as fears that the

Espionage Act of 1917 The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code ( ...

was not sufficiently adequate. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 further specified that anyone who: :communicates, transmits, or discloses... any document, writing, sketch, photograph, plan, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information involving or incorporating restricted data... to any individual or person, or attempts or conspires to any of the foregoing, with intent to injure the United States or with intent to secure an advantage to any foreign nation, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

or imprisonment for life... or, by a fine of not more than $20,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both... The act empowered and required the then-newly-created Atomic Energy Commission to regulate Restricted Data both internally and externally.

Categories of Restricted Data

Section 142 of the Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2162) allows certain nuclear weapons information to be removed from the Restricted Data category to be handled by the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

or the Intelligence Community. * Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) is jointly determined by DoD and DOE to relate primarily to the military use of nuclear weapons, and is safeguarded as defense information (e.g., weapon yield, deployment locations, weapons safety and storage, and stockpile quantities). * Transclassified Foreign Nuclear Information (TFNI) is information from any intelligence source that concerns the nuclear programs of foreign governments that was removed from the RD category by past joint agreements between DOE and the

Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1946 to 2004, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Se ...

, or past and future agreements with the

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

. Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI) is a category of RD provided to the DoD that reveals the theory of operation or design of components of a thermonuclear or implosion-type fission bomb, warhead, demolition munition, or test device. It is classified as either Secret (S//RD) or Top Secret (TS//RD). The Sigma categories are subject areas of RD nuclear weapons data related to nuclear weapons, components, or explosive devices or materials that have been determined to require additional protection. The current Sigma categories are Sigma 14, Sigma 15, Sigma 16 and Sigma 20.

References

{{Dwight D. Eisenhower United States government secrecy Nuclear secrecy

History

Categories of Restricted Data

See also

References