A person in Federal DC law enforcement told me that there are some things that are not for knowing. Even if the President asked for the information, they couldn’t get it. I assumed he was talking about UFO’s.
Your description of the “need to know” mentality is accurate.
Here is the problem.
Who gets to decide?
On what authority?
For what period of time?
What measures are they authorized to take to maintain secrecy?
Who authorized those measures?
What are the consequences if excessive measures are taken?
Who gets to decide what is excessive?
What is the penalty if excessive measures are taken?
Who gets to decide the penalty?
Who gets to enforce the penalty?
Once you start asking those questions the “light” will go on and you realize that a “secret government” or “Deep State” must exist—and “democracy” is a fraud to dupe the sheeple.