Dear Security Types,

I too had some experience with it. The documents I worked with had the standard yellow Top Secret covers. The next page said:

Warning!
Code word material contained herein.
If you are not authorized do not turn this page!
You are subject to criminal and civil penalties under U.S.C. xxxxxx

A little bit of paradox here. You didn’t know which codeword it was until you turned the page. The fact is I never met anybody who was cleared for more than one. Then again, I didn’t socialize with flag ranks.

I have seen documents that are seemingly innocuous have this classification. Just the knowledge of the sender and recipient could provide a link to confirm or deny an adversary’s assumption.

Except in certain circumstances – none come to mind – we know what the enemy is up to. He knows what we’re up to. The game is to make him uncertain of his assumptions – make his war planning tougher.

There are two examples of this – very public and very subtle – that illustrate this.

Ronald Reagan knew that the mic was hot when he made that joke about “The bombing starts in ten minutes”. The Soviets didn’t know if it was a joke or not. Had they taken the proper measure of him or was he just a little too crazy for them to know.

When McCain sang “Bomb, Bomb Iran” it was laughed off. The message to the Iranians was they would be far better off if they settled this with Bush. The next guy might be just crazy enough to spoil their whole day.

Regards,
Roy