A method and apparatus for implementing a new Permission for methods that perform callback operations are provided. The method and apparatus provide an AdoptPermission Permission type that allows a method to pass a Java 2 authorization test without having the specific required Permissions expressly granted to the method and without the method having the AllPermission Permission granted to it. With the apparatus and method, an AdoptPermission Permission type is defined that operates to allow a ProtectionDomain to "adopt" a required Permission. However, this adoption of a required Permission can only be performed if the ProtectionDomain of at least one method in the thread stack has been granted a Permission that implies the required Permission. Thus, the AdoptPermission Permission type provides an intermediate mechanism that is not as over-inclusive as the AllPermission Permission type and is not as under-inclusive as requiring that all methods in the thread stack include the required Permission expressly granted to them.