There's a difference between secret from US citizens and restricted from public (I.e. worldwide) disclosure. Classified material is kept from US citizens as a

There's a difference between secret from US citizens and restricted from public (I.e. worldwide) disclosure. Classified material is kept from US citizens as a side-effect of it not being public. Believe it or not there are certain limited exceptions in practice to those classification requirements, since the exceptions don't translate to full public disclosure. E.g. a military spouse knowing the week to expect their spouse's return home, something which is normally classified from public disclosure until after it's already occurred.