3 ms·

Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were “up-classified” to make them Confidential; the information in those had not been classified at the time

Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were “up-classified” to make them Confidential; the information in those had not been classified at the time the e-mails were sent. I don't think that's how this works. Information is born classified.

snuxoll 10y ago
The only people who make a deal about "but they were retroactively classified!" never held or considered getting a security clearance. Documents can be retroactively marked if they weren't properly marked to begin with, but that doesn't mean they weren't classified the moment pen was put to paper. A original classifying authority like the SoS should know this and it is no excuse.
talmand 10y ago
Someone has to decide to make the information classified, it doesn't do so on its own. It's possible information can go through the chain all the way to the President before it's marked classified.
- snuxoll 10y ago
  Sure, but the SoS is a classifying authority, it's not like this is some grunt in the army that doesn't have any ability to classify information. I'm not going to insinuate that there's no possibility at least some of this information could have slipped under the radar and had no reason to be classified at the time, but I'm not enough of a fool to believe that applies to every instance.
throwanem 10y ago
Some information is, but it's not a requirement; there's no law or rule that says information not born classified can't be made so after the fact - indeed, this happens with almost all classified information, after evaluation to determine an appropriate level of secrecy to be applied.
Jtsummers 10y ago
Not in the case of actual security classifications. Take the helicopters used in the Bin Laden raid. People knew of them in the 90s, that's when the stealth helicopter program they came from got started. Then it went silent. Why? Because they got picked up for these particular types of missions, and consequently their development and existence was kept classified. Undoubtedly, any internal documents about it at the time that could be collected and reclassified as Top Secret were. A lot of programs go this way. "Oh, hey, we have X, it's kind of cool" (Confidential or FOUO at that point). "Oh, that's actually really useful, stop telling anyone about it" (Secret or Top Secret, past documents reclassified).

snuxoll 10y ago

The only people who make a deal about "but they were retroactively classified!" never held or considered getting a security clearance. Documents can be retroactively marked if they weren't properly marked to begin with, but that doesn't mean they weren't classified the moment pen was put to paper. A original classifying authority like the SoS should know this and it is no excuse.

talmand 10y ago

Someone has to decide to make the information classified, it doesn't do so on its own. It's possible information can go through the chain all the way to the President before it's marked classified.

snuxoll 10y ago
Sure, but the SoS is a classifying authority, it's not like this is some grunt in the army that doesn't have any ability to classify information. I'm not going to insinuate that there's no possibility at least some of this information could have slipped under the radar and had no reason to be classified at the time, but I'm not enough of a fool to believe that applies to every instance.

throwanem 10y ago

Some information is, but it's not a requirement; there's no law or rule that says information not born classified can't be made so after the fact - indeed, this happens with almost all classified information, after evaluation to determine an appropriate level of secrecy to be applied.

Jtsummers 10y ago

Not in the case of actual security classifications. Take the helicopters used in the Bin Laden raid. People knew of them in the 90s, that's when the stealth helicopter program they came from got started. Then it went silent. Why? Because they got picked up for these particular types of missions, and consequently their development and existence was kept classified. Undoubtedly, any internal documents about it at the time that could be collected and reclassified as Top Secret were. A lot of programs go this way. "Oh, hey, we have X, it's kind of cool" (Confidential or FOUO at that point). "Oh, that's actually really useful, stop telling anyone about it" (Secret or Top Secret, past documents reclassified).