CSM said:Not always. I suppose you are in favor of revealing every bit of classified info...I am not. I could go into this big long exaggeration about how you want to let the terrorists know every weakness in our security, but I doubt that is what you mean or want.
I suspect that you are well aware there are good reasons for some classified data being kept secret (radio encryption codes, for example, or operational plans for an Army maneuver and deploymnent schedules for ships and planes). I don't want those published by anyone even if they are to be examined to ensure "there are no offensive words in them" etc.
A subject for debate is why we need such secrecy in the first place but I suspect that would soon degenerate into an argument between idealism and realism.
How classification levels are determined....
Information that must be controlled to protect the national security is assigned one of three levels of classification, as follows:
TOP SECRET information is information which, if disclosed without authorization, could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.
SECRET information is information which, if disclosed without authorization, could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.
CONFIDENTIAL information is information which, if disclosed without authorization, could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security.
Often, but not always, classified information becomes declassified after an assigned date. As an example, the movie "Trinity and Beyond" had the yields of atom bomb tests from the 1940s and 1950s. That information was declassified some time before the movie's release in 1995.