Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) SCIF

Sensitive compartmented information is classified intelligence, usually about sources and methods, restricted to people read into a specific control system on top of a Top Secret clearance. It may be handled only in an accredited facility, known as a SCIF. Standards set by the Director of National Intelligence, chiefly Intelligence Community Directive 705 of 2010, require hardened walls and doors, sound insulation, alarm and access controls, and protection against electronic eavesdropping. Personal phones and other devices must be left outside.

SCIFs range from a single room to entire buildings. They exist across the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, in military commands and embassies, in contractor offices, and at the White House, where the Situation Room is one. Congress has its own, including the intelligence committee spaces in the Capitol complex where members read classified material. Temporary facilities, sometimes tents, are set up for the President's travel and for military operations, and some senior officials have had SCIFs installed in their homes.

SCIFs have become part of political fights. In October 2019 House members opposed to an impeachment inquiry entered a committee SCIF with their phones to protest closed-door depositions. Discoveries in 2022 and 2023 of classified documents kept at the homes of former officials, and the March 2025 discussion of planned military strikes by senior officials in a commercial messaging group that included a journalist, raised questions about secrets handled outside secure spaces. Defenders of the rules say they are the last line against espionage, while critics say the cost and shortage of SCIF space slow the work of government and industry.