Born secret

Born secret (also known as born classified) is a legal doctrine in the United States where certain information is automatically classified from the moment it is created, regardless of author or location. Scholars describe the doctrine as unique in U.S. law because it can criminalize the discussion of information that is already publicly available. The rule originated in laws of the United States covering the design, production, and use of nuclear weapons, although it has also been used to classify other nuclear technologies and cryptography data. The United States Department of Energy has called the born secret doctrine controversial.

The doctrine is associated with the Restricted Data category created by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and retained in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which treated nuclear weapons and related nuclear energy information as legally protected by default until affirmatively removed from that category. Legal and policy debate has focused on its relationship to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, particularly because attempts to apply it can resemble prior restraint.

A challenge arose in United States v. The Progressive, a 1979 dispute over an article assembled from unclassified sources about the hydrogen bomb; the case ended without a definitive ruling when it was dismissed as moot. Experts have argued that secrecy rules associated with the doctrine complicate reporting on nuclear safety, accidents, contamination, and public health impacts.