According to "The Codebreakers" (if memory serves me), in about 1943 the U.S. and the U.K. negotiated a BRITUS treaty, the details of which were very secret. I think that this was the original agreement to share the British Enigma cryptography results, and possibly the U.S. nuclear results. Further, I suspect that one of the provisions of the BRITUS treaty was that all of the crypto stuff be treated as if British Law (i.e. the Official Secrets Act) ruled -- everything was secret unless and until the Government said it wasn't any more. This was mildly unconstitutional at the time, but could be gotten past the courts on the excuse that the Constitution defines treaties as "The Highest Law of the Land". It has certainly led to a lot of abuses since, but the bureaucrats love it -- "born classified", indeed! Does anyone on the list have any info -- or references -- that would serve to confirm or deny my guesses? adTHANKSvance samlb@baynetworks.com