[rdtsc]

Those are the names of compartments / projects for classified information.

The way compartments work, they are supposed to be isolated not just from lower level (secret vs top secret) but also among each other. So things would have instructions like "handle via EPICBANANA channels only". So if you are not read into EPICBANANA you don't get access to it, even though you might have TS clearance.

So programs / capabilities are referred by those names. Instead of say "Oh that Cisco ASA blah model VPN MitM thing we have".

That also means that just because you have TS clearance doesn't mean you get to pick up and walk away with all the TS information you want ... oh wait, that did happen already, didn't it... oops.

[justinjlynn]

Snowden was a member of a group with what is known as "PRIVAC", or privileged access, capabilities. To my amateur understanding, this type of access is granted to systems administrators or other users of information systems who may see things they aren't otherwise cleared to see in the course of their normal duties. Additionally, it was reported, though denied by Snowden, that Snowden used other colleagues' credentials to access information for collection and later disclosure.