What is the origin of the "Bigot" clearance used by the Allies in World War II?

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Accepted answer

"Bigot" wasn't a clearance level, it was an additional layer of security along with clearance levels. A clearance level like "secret" means it requires people viewing it to have passed a security check of the appropriate level.

In addition to having the required security clearance for the information (which could be any clearance level) you usually have to be approved to see that specific information. Thus, the "Bigot List". Today it would be called sensitive compartmentalized information or special access programs many, many of which exist within various government departments.

Rather than have people walking around with blanket security clearances who can potentially know too much about too many things, special access programs add a layer of security by ensure that the fewest people possible know only the secrets they need to know. Compartmentalization is a powerful security measure. This has often been referred to as "need to know" or (inaccurately) "above top secret".

There were many other programs like this. "Bigot" was the name for the list of people allowed to know details of Overlord. @o.m. already mentioned Magic (intelligence coming from a US code breaking project) and Ultra (intelligence coming from British GC&CS). Any major operation would have its own secrecy and deception plan. For example, Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, required a great number of compartmentalized information both to keep the time and location for the invasion a secret and for their deception plan, Operation Bodyguard which included Operation Fortitude.

Whether they had additional code names beyond the operation name, I don't know.

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The code name BIGOT was established by Winston Churchill, it stood for British Invasion of German Occupied Territory. These were men who knew the entire Overlord invasion plan. They were severely restricted in their movements prior to the invasion.

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During ww11, I believe potential names for operations were recorded in one code book.Need a codeword? Just pick the next unused on the list.Simple.

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I am sceptical about the origins given for this here and elsewhere, as the reversal of TO GIB, as although there are many early references to BIGOT [and all the original Overlord maps I've seen are stamped BIGOT, some with a date on which they ceased to be BIGOT] all the etymological definitions I've seen are 21st century, so I feel likely to be suspect. My father was a BIGOT and told me that that phone conversations at the time started 'Are you BIGOTted?' and if affirmative 'Shall we Scramble?'. He also made flights to/from Gib, but never mentioned a connection. I think it more likely that as with other code words it just came from the list of random words designed to give no clue as to the nature of the operation it covered, as concisely described at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_name

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A possible explanation: Supposedly some Allied military travel papers were stamped TOGIB rather than TO GIB (to Gibraltar) to indicate that the soldier was involved in classified missions. Wikipedia says so, and I seemed to remeber that Holt mentioned it in The Deceivers, but it isn't in the index.

Regarding other clearances, there was MAGIC/ULTRA, to name just one.

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