Compartmentalization (intelligence)

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In matters concerning intelligence, whether public or private sector, compartmentalization of information means to limit access to information to persons who directly need to know certain such information in order to perform certain tasks. The idea is that the fewer people know, the better, because as the number of people "in the know" grows, so does the risk or likelihood that such information could be compromised or fall into the hands of the opposition. As such, there tend to be varying levels of clearance within organisations. However, even if someone has the highest clearance, certain "eyes only" information may still be restricted to certain operators, even of lower rank. In intelligence administration, it is particularly useful to keep close watch on "sources and methods" information, so as to prevent disclosure of people and their activities, whose lives may be at risk, if such information were publicly disclosed, or, once again, fall into the hands of the opposition.