The only people who make a deal about "but they were retroactively classified!" never held or considered getting a security clearance. Documents can be retroact

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.