Talk:Restricted Data

If not category of classification then what?

HI All, and especially @nuclearsecrets the page says that Restricted Data is not a category of classification and I found this confusing as I read it (which is not necessarily representative). I think there is potential for confusion here in that it took me a couple minutes to realize "classified" is (seemingly?) being used here to refer to "National Security Information? And I don't want to go editing a page that the person who wrote the book on the subject worked on a lot without at least throwing this out there.

Short version: "Classified" is, in daily practice, used by clearance holders and NATSEC practitioners and politicians (even in trainings: https://www.energy.gov/documents/rd-frd-indicators-2605pdf) in usually a fairly synonymous way. I like, and the overarching category seems to exist in practice, of it's all "classified" and the question is by/as what: RD/FRD via AEA, NSI via EO/NatSectAct, etc?

Relatedly, this is part of why the CUI/UCNI categories vex me so much (along with their gross and poorly justified overuse). "It's a distribution marking not a classification system!" And yet it is still based on claims that the info if revealed could result in significant harm blah blah blah blah which is awfully familiar to both NSA & AEC justifications.

In any case! I'm gonna leave this here for a few and then I'll make some tentative edits if I remember and this is still not clicking for me.

-mep- Atomic Anthro (talk) 19:35, 9 August 2026 (UTC)

I think the distinction being made (I don't know if I wrote it or not) is that RD is not just another level of NSI, but a parallel classification category to NSI. It is also not (as you know) applied so much as found, given its strange definition. It is not covered by the EO that governs classification in the United States. So I think the distinction being made is not that it is not a form of classification activity — it is, in a broad sense — but that it is not a kind of "top top secret." Indeed, it is possible to have things that are dual-classified as Restricted Data (Confidential), with "Confidential" being a relatively low level of classification. Re: UIC/UCNI, the question (I think) to ask is, "what happens someone allows the controlled information to gets out?" If the answer is purely administrative (you lose your job) as opposed to criminal (you go to jail), then it is a meaningful distinction from that perspective, even if, from the outsider's perspective, it appears to have a similar effect. NuclearSecrets (talk) 10:48, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Gotcha, thank you, this clarifies my reading significantly. I will sit and maybe poke some after cogitating about how or if this could be revised to be more clear. It's a thing to do b/t dissertation writing lol.

I hope you are well,

-marty- Atomic Anthro (talk) 14:41, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Oh yes, all of this brought to you by the current regime screwing w/DNFSB by refusing to review reports for UCI/UCNI & me then rabbit-holing down the CUI/UCNI statutes. Atomic Anthro (talk) 14:43, 10 August 2026 (UTC)