Definition
Compartmentalization refers to institutionalized secrecy. It is a systematized way of limiting access to information. It goes hand-in-hand with hierarchy as an organizational structure.
Compartmentalization ensures that authority and knowledge of the bigger picture are only available to a few. As a result, the vast majority of people are stripped of the information and power needed to make strategic, ethical and oversight decisions.
Typically, mid-level managers within compartmentalized structures are unaware of how little of the full picture they actually have. (This is spectacularly exemplified by the Manhattan Project, described below.) Managers in such organizations may wholeheartedly believe they have full access to the available information. Some may later learn (by other whistleblower testimony, FOIA documents and so on) that they were only led to believe they had the complete picture when in fact, much information was being withheld from them.
At its most basic, compartmentalization policies are designed to protect confidential information. It involves any combination of these strategies:
- Hierarchical power structure
- Spreading work out across multiple locations to increase secrecy (as in Project MK Ultra)
- “Need to know” policy
- “Least privilege” policy
The principles of information security [are to] protect the confidentiality of sensitive information. The first of these principles is the concept known as need to know. In organizations that enforce need to know, individuals are not automatically given access to sensitive information simply because they possess the appropriate security credentials. Instead, access decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and the individual must demonstrate that he or she has a valid business need to access the information… An extension of the need to know principle is the principle of least privilege. Least privilege says that an individual should be assigned the minimum set of privileges necessary to carry out his or her job responsibilities.
– Security Operations and Administration Skills Certification Video
Why This Matters
Since hierarchy and compartmentalization ensure that each person has limited knowledge, an individual associated with government, big business or mainstream science will know only a subset of the truth. Most likely, they will know only a tiny fraction of the whole truth. However, it’s common for many mid-level people to believe that they have been fully briefed on the subject at hand.
This can severely muddy the waters when, for instance, a person truly believes that he knows the whole truth. In other words, if an individual isn’t aware of a particular event having taken place or that a group of people is working on a secret task, then he may believe that such events, groups and tasks don’t exist. He may attest that his statements are true and may even adamantly insist that this is so, when in fact these are only his beliefs — perhaps a reflection of mistaken assumptions, or perhaps a belief that has been planted by design in order to keep information secret.
Thus, discernment is required to:
- Separate what a witness has experienced vs. what they are sharing that is second-hand or speculation.
- Consider how their experience fits with other testimony and evidence. “Put the pieces together” to find a more complete truth.
Implications
Of all the strategies in Enemies of Truth, compartmentalization is arguably the most powerful tool for amassing control and maintaining secrecy.
- The systems of compartmentalization that serve as the very foundation of the military and many government agencies are also widely used by the most powerful business, medicine and technology firms as well.
- In these excessively controlled organizations, individuals are stripped of knowledge and rights — including ethical control — related to the purpose and use of their own contributions, research, inventions and ideas.
- In other words, developments and breakthroughs in medicine, science and technology are created by the brilliant minds and hard work of individuals who may have the best of intentions but whose work is co-opted for whatever purposes the upper levels choose.
- If not even the experts and workers are allowed to know the full story of how their work is being used, then who does?
- In the more controlled operations, compartmentalized hierarchy effectively strips individuals of power, turning them into powerless, order-taking servants who are intentionally kept ignorant of anything beyond their “need to know” to execute a compartmentalized task (as exemplified by the United States military).
The Cold War & The Manhattan Project
- Compartmentalized information security in its current form is traced back to the system that was designed to preserve U.S. dominance during World War II and the Cold War. (source)
- The system of compartmentalization developed for the Manhattan Project successfully withheld the biggest secret of all time from not only foreign powers and the public, but also from the chief inventors and the other 600,000 (!) individuals who worked on the project.
- Since the Manhattan Project, use of compartmentalization appears to have expanded unchecked into not only countless government agencies but also business, technology and even educational institutions.
Excessive Control
Whatever level of secrecy may or may not be deemed appropriate for “information security” and “national security,” the outcome is that power control systems have grown boundlessly.
In these excessively controlled organizations, individuals are stripped of knowledge and rights — including ethical control — related to the purpose and use of their own inventions and contributions.
Of course, there’s a difference between the systems of information secrecy deemed necessary for “national security” purposes vs. other uses such as business information security. Who exactly it is that is determining what must be kept secret for national security is a key consideration. Who is held accountable for such decisions? No matter how transparent or how secretive, any arguments that defend excessive secrecy will presumably be most justifiable when said to be for “national security.”
In analyzing justifications, remember that information security is not the same thing as excessive power and control. That is, this is not an all-or-nothing issue. While those in power will put forth arguments in order to keep their control, their position that such excessive levels of compartmentalization are necessary can be countered on multiple levels. Here is a counterargument that was put forth in a formal analysis of the U.S. government’s intelligence security structure:
It is well known that knowledge can be a dominant source of power that needs to be exploited and safeguarded if the U.S. is to preserve a strategic edge. However, in today’s globalized environment, knowledge and the technical advantage it provides are vulnerable to excessive internal control. The structure of the existing information security architecture has at least four major repercussions.
– A Formal Analysis: Compartmentalized Intelligence Security Structure (2015)
The analysis goes on to detail these conclusions:
- It impacts foreign policy decisions due to inaccurate analyst assessments arising from a lack of access to the pertinent but compartmented information traditionally withheld from analysts.
- It often leads to parallel but independent paths of technology development that, while sometimes beneficial, can result in a considerable waste of fiscal resources that are increasingly important in the current domestic political environment.
- It limits the intellectual capital that may be leveraged against solving today’s complicated technical problems.
- It inhibits integration from the tactical to the strategic levels by preventing integrated communication during development and employment.
See the 29-page report for more details.
Of course, government is not the only place that the risk/benefit argument applies:
Knowledge waste is when teams and individuals fail to share knowledge within an organization causing others to duplicate research efforts and replay mistakes of the past. It is common for organizations to seek an environment of open document repositories and systems in order to fully leverage investments in knowledge. As such, it is perfectly common for an organization to interpret least privilege in an extremely open manner… Organizations that strictly adopt least privilege may find it becomes something of an efficiently bottleneck.
– John Spacey
Hierarchy & An Alternative: The Circle
Cultures of hierarchy and control long ago abolished circle, because circle serves democracy. Those seeking to dominate and rule over others know instinctively that circle is dangerous to their desire for power.
– Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea
Compartmentalization is made possible within the ever-present structure of hierarchy. Hierarchy is so prolific that it may seem to be the only or the most desirable solution to organizing people. But that isn’t so.
In The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair, Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea provide an eloquent and scholarly presentation of a more natural and just structure than a hierarchy: a circle.
Circle process is not a technique; it’s a heritage. It is a way to be together that is familiar to people everywhere on the planet. It’s easy to notice the presence of circle in indigenous communities and as people sit in fields resting from their work, in homes and public places, even in airports as they travel. But generally, circle has been suppressed and forgotten. Cultures of hierarchy and control long ago abolished circle, because circle serves democracy. Those seeking to dominate and rule over others know instinctively that circle is dangerous to their desire for power. By its simple shape, circle includes everyone without distinction, welcomes and invites all to participate, and creates equality among those gathered. So it is that this most ancient of forms becomes revolutionary in today’s world… It opens up the creativity and contribution of all who sat silent for far too many years. Circle ends our collective and individual silence… Nobody is superior… We sit together in our differences in one nice, round shape.
– Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea
Summary of Basic Facts
So far, we’ve outlined the most basic considerations related to compartmentalization:
- War led to military leaders developing systems of secrecy to enforce information security.
- These systems have grown boundlessly.
- Compartmentalization serves to amass power in the hands of a few.
- It effectively strips knowledge and power from everyone else.
- There is a lack of oversight to weigh the benefits and risks of these systems.
- Compartmentalization is made possible through the normalization of hierarchy. An alternative system is circle, whereby all are equal.
Because compartmentalization fools most people into thinking they know more than they do about the organization as a whole, discernment is required to:
- Separate what a witness has experienced vs. what they are sharing that is second-hand or speculation.
- Consider how their experience fits with other testimony and evidence.
Going Deeper
Beyond those basic issues are assertions that the systems supporting compartmentalization, which naturally amass power in the hands of a few, are being wielded by psychopathic personalities. As a result, this structural foundation serves as the underlying system enabling devastating outcomes and planetary issues.
The psychopaths in control need a hierarchical structure to maintain control over the masses (you and I).
– Paul Marko, Ph.D.
People who attempt to “climb the ladder” within established hierarchies such as politics, business, government, science and education are immersed in cultures that have normalized manipulation and bribery. Over time, a person of integrity is faced with decisions that threaten his ability to stay true to his values while adhering to the organizational norms. In order to continue advancing in many of the world’s organizations, people must engage in more and more sociopathic behavior. This isn’t obvious on a surface level as the sociopath is typically quite charming; it’s their motivation and manipulation that bring devastating results to others. Learn more: Sociopaths & Psychopaths.
When you think of all the possibilities for running and organising a society and the way of organising the ability to purchase what we need…. why is it that according to politics worldwide no matter what the colour of the party, the same one way of doing it is always what they stand for? … The way the system works through compartmentalization of knowledge… it’s been extraordinary to realize how far up the pyramid… in terms of people in positions of power… you have to go before you meet one that actually knows what’s going on and why, because the program is not just for the masses… It’s only the tiny few who actually are in awareness of the fact that there is a system with an agenda and where it wants to take us and how it takes us there.
– David Icke
Sources & Resources
- Baldwin, Christina and Ann Linnea — The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair — 2010 book
- Ekman, Kim Kamala — So What Can I Do?: Answers from inspired researchers about the world today — 2015 book
- Javorsek II, Daniel et al, International Journal of Intelligence — A Formal Risk-Effectiveness Analysis Proposal for the Compartmentalized Intelligence Security Structure
- Lynda.com — Security Operations and Administration Skills Certification Video
- Marko, Paul Ph.D. — Belief Magic: Decoding the Belief Matrix
- Spacey, John, Simplicable — What is the Principle of Least Privilege?
- Wellerstein, Alex, The Nuclear Secrecy Blog — How many people worked on the Manhattan Project?
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