Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (Born-Secret Doctrine)
nodeDefense & Military-Industrial
The 1946 law that invented 'born secret' — information classified automatically the instant it exists.
Who they are
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (Public Law 79-585).
What they do
The statute that turned the Manhattan Project's wartime secrecy into permanent peacetime law.
How it works
It created the category 'Restricted Data' — anything about making atomic weapons or fissionable material is classified the moment it's created ('born secret'), unless specifically declassified — and it set up the Atomic Energy Commission.
Why it matters
It's one half of the legal machinery that lets the state conceal entire fields of knowledge by default — a wartime habit made into standing law.
The engine's record — word for word
[Report #176 — Privatization Pipeline] Public Law 79-585, ch. 724, Sec. 10(b)(1), 60 Stat. 755, 766 (Aug 1 1946). Codified 'Restricted Data' — 'all data concerning the manufacture or utilization of atomic weapons, the production of fissionable material, or the use of fissionable material in the production of power' — classified automatically upon creation ('born secret') unless specifically declassified. The statute that grandfathered the Manhattan Project's ad-hoc wartime secrecy into permanent peacetime law, and created the AEC (Sec. 2(a)). DISTINCT from invention_secrecy_act_1951 (patent secrecy orders) — a separate mechanism; the two are the twin metering/concealment statutes, not one node. [PRIMARY-STATUTE]
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