There were 6,057 inventions that were under Secrecy Orders at the end of Fiscal Year 2022. For secrecy orders issued by year see website. The number of secrecy orders have only increased each year. This is technology that is rarely ever released from it's gag order. Tracking of secrecy orders can be found here. In the last 5 years, inventions that were under secrecy orders at the end of Fiscal Year 2018 were 5792. In 2019 it 5878, In 2020, it was 5915, and In 2021, it was 5976 secrecy orders.
“The dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts, far outweigh the dangers that are cited to justify them. There is a very grave danger that an announced need for an increased level of security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of censorship and concealment. That I do not tend to permit, so long as it’s in my control.” – JFK (source)
Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, patent applications on new inventions can be subject to secrecy orders restricting their publication if government agencies believe that disclosure would be “detrimental to the national security.”
The current list of technology areas that is used to screen patent applications for possible restriction under the Invention Secrecy Act is not publicly available and has been denied under the Freedom of Information Act. (An appeal is pending.) But a previous list dated 1971 and obtained by researcher Michael Ravnitzky is available here pdf.
Most of the listed technology areas are closely related to military applications. But some of them range more widely.
In 1971, under US government secrecy orders on page 14 solar pholtaic cell technology is subject to review and possible restriction if patents for solar photovoltaic generators were more than 20% efficient. Energy conversion systems were likewise subject to review and possible restriction if they offered conversion efficiencies “in excess of 70-80%.”
The question that needs to be asked is if disclosure of such technologies could really have been “detrimental to the national security,” or whether the opposite would be closer to the truth? This would lead us to the next logical question of what comparable advances in technology may be subject to restriction and non-disclosure today? But no answers are forthcoming, and the invention secrecy system persists with no discernible external review.
Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, secrecy orders may be imposed on patent applications when a government agency finds that granting the patent and publishing it would be “detrimental” to national security.
Boeing labs announced in 2017 they had developed a panel 42% efficient merely by stacking cells and that it wouldn't be much more $ to manufacture. You can see that those never came out. Even a 42% efficient panel would be a game changer domestically. Yes, they have been hiding tech from us for decades.
Technology is being withheld from the American public.
There were 6,057 inventions that were under Secrecy Orders at the end of Fiscal Year 2022. For secrecy orders issued by year see website. The number of secrecy orders have only increased each year. This is technology that is rarely ever released from it's gag order. Tracking of secrecy orders can be found here. In the last 5 years, inventions that were under secrecy orders at the end of Fiscal Year 2018 were 5792. In 2019 it 5878, In 2020, it was 5915, and In 2021, it was 5976 secrecy orders.
“The dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts, far outweigh the dangers that are cited to justify them. There is a very grave danger that an announced need for an increased level of security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of censorship and concealment. That I do not tend to permit, so long as it’s in my control.” – JFK (source) Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, patent applications on new inventions can be subject to secrecy orders restricting their publication if government agencies believe that disclosure would be “detrimental to the national security.”
The current list of technology areas that is used to screen patent applications for possible restriction under the Invention Secrecy Act is not publicly available and has been denied under the Freedom of Information Act. (An appeal is pending.) But a previous list dated 1971 and obtained by researcher Michael Ravnitzky is available here pdf. Most of the listed technology areas are closely related to military applications. But some of them range more widely.
In 1971, under US government secrecy orders on page 14 solar pholtaic cell technology is subject to review and possible restriction if patents for solar photovoltaic generators were more than 20% efficient. Energy conversion systems were likewise subject to review and possible restriction if they offered conversion efficiencies “in excess of 70-80%.”
The question that needs to be asked is if disclosure of such technologies could really have been “detrimental to the national security,” or whether the opposite would be closer to the truth? This would lead us to the next logical question of what comparable advances in technology may be subject to restriction and non-disclosure today? But no answers are forthcoming, and the invention secrecy system persists with no discernible external review.
Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, secrecy orders may be imposed on patent applications when a government agency finds that granting the patent and publishing it would be “detrimental” to national security.
Boeing labs announced in 2017 they had developed a panel 42% efficient merely by stacking cells and that it wouldn't be much more $ to manufacture. You can see that those never came out. Even a 42% efficient panel would be a game changer domestically. Yes, they have been hiding tech from us for decades.