It has been observed that the Barack Obama administration has employed the state secrets privilege more than all preceding presidential administrations combined. There is a certain irony inherent in that fact as Obama ran for office in 2008 specifically committing himself to creating a more open and transparent government.

The contemporary version of the state secrets privilege was first successfully invoked in 1953 in a case involving military secrets. It was intended to provide the government with a mechanism to intervene in judicial proceedings if there were some danger that classified information might be revealed as part of the legal process. In practice, this has meant that if a plaintiff or defendant in a trial sought to use government information to help make his or her case the justice department (DOJ) would be able to intervene ex parte in camera and, after making its case, hopefully obtain a ruling from the judge that the information being sought was inadmissible on grounds of national security.