Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
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Well they've also established you can give higher access to lower ranked agents.
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I would be surprised if access to all information was a simple binary "If you have this clearance level you know it, if not you don't" thing, that's impractical and gets in the way of good compartmentalization of intelligence.

The scientists working on your Level-4 Classified secret project don't need to have access to the work being done by your level-4 analysts.
Still, there's probably some protocols about "You must be at least this clearance to be granted access to this".

Plus, if we assume information isn't binary, then the whole "Coulson is Alive" thing makes a lot more sense.
Coulson being alive is apparently a level-7 secret.
The Avengers, including SHIELD's top agents, are only level 6.
And yet we've been meeting agents all over the place who are just like "Oh yeah, Coulson's alive, Fury played mind games with the Avengers, Cool." It makes more sense if coulson is a secret specifically being kept from the Avengers, than if Black Widow is ranked below the flight crews who refuel the Bus.