diff --git a/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml b/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
index 3a8d73b9..99e493ae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
@@ -112,6 +112,12 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          # Full history. One of the two gating passes below scans git history,
+          # and the default depth-1 clone would silently reduce it to a single
+          # commit. That pass asserts non-shallowness for itself rather than
+          # trusting this line to have taken effect.
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
       # Gitleaks runs as a pinned, checksum-verified binary rather than via
       # gitleaks/gitleaks-action. The action injects gitleaks into the runner
@@ -210,10 +216,15 @@ jobs:
           rm -rf .standards-gitleaks
           test -s .gitleaks-estate.toml
 
-      # Scans the checked-out working tree (--no-git): deterministic and fast.
-      # A finding exits non-zero and fails the check. Full-history scanning is
-      # available by removing --no-git and adding `fetch-depth: 0` to the
-      # checkout above, at the cost of a slower scan on every PR.
+      # TWO gating passes run below and they are not redundant. Each sees a
+      # population the other cannot:
+      #   * working tree (--no-git) -- sees untracked and generated files;
+      #     cannot see a blob deleted in an earlier commit
+      #   * git history             -- sees committed-then-deleted secrets;
+      #     cannot see a file that was never committed
+      # Both gate: a finding in either exits non-zero and fails the check.
+      # Full history costs a slower scan on every PR. That is the accepted
+      # price of a deleted secret no longer being permanently invisible.
       # ── Estate baseline sharing ──────────────────────────────────────────
       # A consumer repo can inherit the estate-wide allowlist instead of
       # copying it, by writing in its own .gitleaks.toml:
@@ -310,6 +321,56 @@ jobs:
             --config "$CONFIG" \
             --exit-code 1
 
+      # Full-history pass — ADDITIVE, not a replacement. Measured on a fixture
+      # with this exact pinned binary, the same secret in two placements:
+      #
+      #     committed then deleted    working tree: MISSED    history: FOUND
+      #     untracked file            working tree: FOUND     history: MISSED
+      #
+      # git mode scans commit diffs, so it cannot see a file that was never
+      # committed; --no-git walks the checked-out tree, so it cannot see a blob
+      # that is no longer in it. Dropping either pass REMOVES coverage. Keeping
+      # both is why this was added as a new step rather than by editing the one
+      # above, whose name and log lines existing triage keys on.
+      #
+      # KNOWN GAP, stated rather than implied: the AsciiDoc mirror pass below
+      # scans a filesystem copy with --no-git, so fetch-depth: 0 cannot reach
+      # it. An AsciiDoc secret that was committed and later deleted stays
+      # invisible. "The gate is full-history" holds for every file class but
+      # that one.
+      - name: Gitleaks secret scan — git history (gating)
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          # fetch-depth: 0 on the checkout is load-bearing HERE. If it ever
+          # regresses to the default depth-1 clone, detect would walk a single
+          # commit, find nothing and report a pass — a gate that cannot fail.
+          # Assert completeness from git itself: gitleaks' own "scanned N
+          # commits" line under-reports and is not proof of depth.
+          if [ "$(git rev-parse --is-shallow-repository)" != "false" ]; then
+            echo "::error::checkout is shallow -- a history scan here would be vacuous; refusing to report a pass"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "history available to this scan: $(git rev-list --count HEAD) commits"
+
+          # Same config resolution as the working-tree pass, duplicated rather
+          # than factored out so that step stays byte-identical.
+          CONFIG=".gitleaks-estate.toml"
+          if [ -f .gitleaks.toml ]; then
+            CONFIG=".gitleaks.toml"
+          fi
+          # A staging step that failed silently would leave gitleaks running a
+          # reduced config over almost nothing and calling the result green.
+          test -s "$CONFIG"
+
+          "$RUNNER_TEMP/gitleaks" detect \
+            --source . \
+            --redact \
+            --no-banner \
+            --verbose \
+            --config "$CONFIG" \
+            --exit-code 1
+
       # AsciiDoc blind-spot pass — MEASURED, not theoretical.
       #
       # gitleaks' DEFAULT global allowlist excludes paths matching