I left Sandia before I got a security clearance...I still had to deal with secrecy...a coworker and I came up with a process that could save optics companies a lot of money... I can't describe it and as far as I know it still hasn't seen the light of day... It falls under intellectual property... I imagine a lot of good ideas get lost in secrecy... the people that "own" the idea have NO use for it, so they dont use it... but it remains their property, just held but not used...

Even where I work now, I deal with secrecy- we have to clear our laser observing targets with space command, I called them up and asked how they decide if a target is too close to the path of a satellite- I essentially got "well we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you" lol ok, not that blunt- but it was clear that fell under "need to know" - now, I COULD find it out by choosing targets closer and closer to the ISS until they said it was too close...:) but it isn't worth the trouble....

I can say I came within 4 degrees of the ISS and no objection was raised by space command...Just to be clear, nothing would have happened if I had scored a direct hit... _MAYBE_ a spy satellite could be blinded if I scored a hit, but I doubt it...

Hey Larry you have any info you can share on spy sats and their protections against over exposure to light?
lol.....j/k