12 FBI v. FAZAGA Opinion of the Court missal was proper in this case), but even respondents concede that dismissal is available in a “spy-contracting case” when a case’s “very subject matter is secret.” Brief for Respondents 25; see also Tenet, 544 U. S., at 11; Totten, 92 U. S., at 107; General Dynamics, 563 U. S., at 492. The availability of dismissal pursuant to the state secrets privilege in at least some circumstances shows that the privilege and §1806(f ) operate differently. Third, the inquiries under §1806(f ) and the state secrets privilege are procedurally different. Section 1806(f ) allows the Attorney General to obtain in camera and ex parte review of the relevant surveillance evidence if he “files an affidavit under oath that disclosure or an adversary hearing would harm the national security of the United States.” §1806(f ). By contrast, the state secrets privilege may be invoked not just by the Attorney General but by “the head of the department which has control over the matter, after actual personal consideration by that officer.” Reynolds, 345 U. S., at 8. In Reynolds, for example, the Judge Advocate General for the United States Air Force asserted the privilege. See id., at 4; see also Zubaydah, ___ U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 5) (asserted by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency); General Dynamics, 563 U. S., at 482 (asserted by the Acting Secretary of the Air Force). The procedures used to evaluate assertions of the state secrets privilege may also, in some circumstances, be more protective of information than the procedures prescribed by §1806(f ). Subsection (f ) allows “review in camera and ex parte” of materials that are “necessary to determine” whether the surveillance was lawful. Nothing in that subsection expressly provides that the Government may shield highly classified information from review by the judge if the information is “necessary” to the determination of the legality of surveillance. Reynolds, on the other hand, expressly states that examination of the evidence at issue, “even by the judge alone, in chambers,” should not be required if the