For information to be classified, it must meet all the following criteria except:

Information is classified to protect national security, and the primary criteria focus on potential damage to that security if classified information were to be disclosed without authorization. In this context, for information to be classified, it must primarily pertain to national security interests or the interests of the United States as a whole.

The correct choice reflects that while unauthorized disclosure causing embarrassment to the government could be a consideration, it does not meet the essential criteria for classification. Classification is fundamentally concerned with the potential harm to national security, relationships with other nations, and whether the information is owned or possessed by a government agency, rather than the potential embarrassment of disclosure.

The focus on national security, foreign relations, and government ownership highlights the seriousness of what constitutes classified information, setting criteria that are grounded in protecting the interests of the nation rather than on less tangible impacts such as embarrassment.