4 ms·

Just wondering as I have no special knowledge, but suppose I am a senator and I receive a number of classified briefings on a particular issue. Could I use Out

Just wondering as I have no special knowledge, but suppose I am a senator and I receive a number of classified briefings on a particular issue. Could I use Outlook to take some notes on my thoughts on that issue? Say as a draft e-mail? I don't think there would be anything technical to stop me, and it's not going to set off any automatic exfiltration flags. But those notes could very well need to be classified. Does everyone in the Capitol with access to classified material have the necessary skills and incentives not to make notes about them on their personal computer?

jjcon 6y ago
If you are receiving a classified briefing you cannot be on a machine that has internet access - the briefing would be in a secured area with no personal devices and the only machines in that area are airgapped (and they are airgapped forever, no switching back and forth). You could of course write stuff down afterwards in an unsecure place but that is day 1 essential huge fucking deal no no. You don’t even discuss classified info outside a secure area, not in your public office not in the outback not ever. That doesn’t mean people don’t do it but when they do and it is found out it is a really big deal. Accidents do happen and there are protocols in place to deal with them when they occur. 99.9% of these leaks are extremely mundane low tier classification and are due to document misclassification etc. Sometimes the name of a project is classified and is leaked by reference etc but when it comes to actual important stuff people are quite competent at keeping that in secure areas.
- MagnumOpus 6y ago
  Though of course all those rules are subject to Trump's Law: "When you are a star they let you do it". A random member of the military or the administration would go to jail for a long time, a senator especially from the same party as the president would get away with it with impunity.
astura 6y ago
>Does everyone in the Capitol with access to classified material have the necessary skills and incentives not to make notes about them on their personal computer? Access to classified information comes with training on properly handing classified information. Mishandling classified information is a crime if you have a security clearance

jjcon 6y ago

If you are receiving a classified briefing you cannot be on a machine that has internet access - the briefing would be in a secured area with no personal devices and the only machines in that area are airgapped (and they are airgapped forever, no switching back and forth). You could of course write stuff down afterwards in an unsecure place but that is day 1 essential huge fucking deal no no. You don’t even discuss classified info outside a secure area, not in your public office not in the outback not ever. That doesn’t mean people don’t do it but when they do and it is found out it is a really big deal. Accidents do happen and there are protocols in place to deal with them when they occur. 99.9% of these leaks are extremely mundane low tier classification and are due to document misclassification etc. Sometimes the name of a project is classified and is leaked by reference etc but when it comes to actual important stuff people are quite competent at keeping that in secure areas.

MagnumOpus 6y ago
Though of course all those rules are subject to Trump's Law: "When you are a star they let you do it". A random member of the military or the administration would go to jail for a long time, a senator especially from the same party as the president would get away with it with impunity.

astura 6y ago

>Does everyone in the Capitol with access to classified material have the necessary skills and incentives not to make notes about them on their personal computer? Access to classified information comes with training on properly handing classified information. Mishandling classified information is a crime if you have a security clearance