Majestic 12 security clearances

The Majestic 12 security clearances are various ranks that members of Majestic 12 can acquire. These ranks allow the person access to a certain amount of classified information, with more information being disclosed to them as their rank increases.

Background
After Majestic 12 broke away from the Illuminati, Bob Page decided to replace the Illuminati's "Degrees of Illuminism" with a hierarchy of security clearances. The Degrees of Illuminism were apparently religiously based ranks, and seemed to be modelled on the Allied Masonic Degrees of the Freemasons. Page replaced the old ranking system with a similarly structured one, only secular. As Stanton Dowd comments, Page ironically names these security clearances after the Christian angelic hierarchy. The order and composition of the angelic hierarchy is not fully agreed upon by Christian philosophers and theologians. However, the order of ranking used by Majestic 12 was put forward by Thomas Aquinas, a personal icon to Page. The security clearances provide an incentive for MJ12 members to remain loyal to the organization. Recruits know that if they perform well, they will be rewarded with advancements "through the layers of secrecy".

The Majestic 12 security clearances are also used by UNATCO. However, UNATCO members are not aware that these rankings originate from Majestic 12, as it's existence is not widely known.

Structure
Although it is clear that the names of the security clearances are based on Aquinas' angelic hierarchy, not all of the clearance levels are named in Deus Ex. The column on the left shows the ranks mentioned in the game, while the one on the right gives the full list of clearances, using the angelic hierarchy to fill in any blanks.

Clearance-restricted information
Knowledge of many projects carried out by MJ12 and UNATCO is strictly reserved to those with an appropriate security clearance. One such example of this is Project Dibbuk, which developed a stealth helicopter to be used during covert Majestic 12 operations. As outlined in the books on the project, it is restricted to those with Domination/5F clearance or higher. The end product of this project was the SH-187 stealth helicopter. Similarly, knowledge of the killswitch's in mechanically augmented agents of UNATCO is divulged only to those with at least Throne/6G clearance. As Jaime Reyes does not have this clearance, he is promptly informed that he is not permitted access to information concerning the killswitch mechanism.