Secret? No, it's Top Secret! Actually it's higher than Top Secret
To claim that something is classified above Top Secret is true and yet it isn't. There are three basic levels of classification of information by our government. Materials classified as Confidential are not very well-kept secrets. Sometimes you can read about them in defense industry magazines mere months after such documents are first classified.
Secret is the next level up. Inadvertently disclosing this level of classified information can definitely get you into trouble. In theory it could land you in a federal prison for ten years. The only difference between Secret and Top Secret is that they use different color cover sheets. Oh yes, and who can assign the level of classification changes as you go from Confidential to Secret, to Top Secret. An interesting factoid is that the original classifying authority must set the date that the material that's been classified will be declassified. Some of the report of the Warren Commission won't be released for a few more decades.
But there are additional classifications that limit who can access Top Secret data. First, before getting into that we need to discuss two basic concepts about having access to any classified material. You need to have the appropriate level of clearance. You also have to have a demonstrated need to know. Classified material is disclosed only on what they call a NTKB. Need To Know Basis.
SCI is an acronym for Sensitive Compartmented Information. It isn't really higher than Top Secret, but the pool of people who can access SCI data is much smaller than the pool who can access material without this additional classification. There used to be another acronym, SIOP (Single Integrated Operation Plan). SIOP materials were the highly classified plan under which the U. S. would use its arsenal of nuclear weapons. That designation was phased out back in 2008 and replaced by a new designation.
So why I am offering this tutorial? Because on the drive home tonight I heard on the news that there are reports at least two of the emails on the server Hillary Clinton is going to release, or on the thumbdrive her attorney is releasing; there are two documents that contain Top Secret SCI material.
It's too early to speculate much about this, but when I heard one politician saying she may not have known that the material was classified I nearly choked on the water I was drinking. That's just complete and utter bullshit. Classified materials are very clearly marked. If a Top Secret document contains paragraphs with lower levels of classification, or that aren't classified at all, they are marked with the appropriate level of classification paragraph by paragraph.
The jury is going to be out on this one for awhile. But it is very frightening that someone who was Secretary of State, next in line to succeed the President behind the VP, House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tem, might not have properly handled some of the nation's most critical secrets.
Secret is the next level up. Inadvertently disclosing this level of classified information can definitely get you into trouble. In theory it could land you in a federal prison for ten years. The only difference between Secret and Top Secret is that they use different color cover sheets. Oh yes, and who can assign the level of classification changes as you go from Confidential to Secret, to Top Secret. An interesting factoid is that the original classifying authority must set the date that the material that's been classified will be declassified. Some of the report of the Warren Commission won't be released for a few more decades.
But there are additional classifications that limit who can access Top Secret data. First, before getting into that we need to discuss two basic concepts about having access to any classified material. You need to have the appropriate level of clearance. You also have to have a demonstrated need to know. Classified material is disclosed only on what they call a NTKB. Need To Know Basis.
SCI is an acronym for Sensitive Compartmented Information. It isn't really higher than Top Secret, but the pool of people who can access SCI data is much smaller than the pool who can access material without this additional classification. There used to be another acronym, SIOP (Single Integrated Operation Plan). SIOP materials were the highly classified plan under which the U. S. would use its arsenal of nuclear weapons. That designation was phased out back in 2008 and replaced by a new designation.
So why I am offering this tutorial? Because on the drive home tonight I heard on the news that there are reports at least two of the emails on the server Hillary Clinton is going to release, or on the thumbdrive her attorney is releasing; there are two documents that contain Top Secret SCI material.
It's too early to speculate much about this, but when I heard one politician saying she may not have known that the material was classified I nearly choked on the water I was drinking. That's just complete and utter bullshit. Classified materials are very clearly marked. If a Top Secret document contains paragraphs with lower levels of classification, or that aren't classified at all, they are marked with the appropriate level of classification paragraph by paragraph.
The jury is going to be out on this one for awhile. But it is very frightening that someone who was Secretary of State, next in line to succeed the President behind the VP, House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tem, might not have properly handled some of the nation's most critical secrets.
posted by me at 8:33 PM
<< Home