By Jeffrey Fields -
The Conversation
The Justice Department is reviewing two batches of classified Barack Obama Administration documents found in a former office of the president, Joe Biden, and in the garage of his Delaware home.
There are superficial similarities linking what was described by Biden's lawyers as "a small number" of files and the hundreds of classified documents kept by former President Donald Trump after leaving office.
[Trump and Biden face scrutiny for the discovery of classified documents: why are both cases similar but very different?]
Trump's case has sparked a major Justice Department investigation into the former president's possible mishandling of classified material.
What kind of information do classified documents contain?
controlled and restricted
Classified information is material that the United States Government or an agency deems sufficiently sensitive for national security to restrict and control access to it.
There are several levels of classification.
Documents related to nuclear weapons, for example, will have different types of priority depending on the sensitivity of the information they contain.
Files containing data on nuclear weapons design or location will be highly classified.
Other information may be confidential but not considered as sensitive.
For example, in 2010 President Barack Obama declassified the number of nuclear weapons stockpiled by the United States.
One of the classified documents Biden had was marked 'top secret'
Jan 13, 202301:29
In general, classified information must be treated in a way that protects the integrity and confidentiality of the data it contains.
This includes storing documents in a safe or other approved container when not in use by staff.
If staff members need to move them from one location to another, they must follow safety protocols to do so.
Although classified information may be released in the course of official duties, officials are prohibited by executive order from taking classified documents home.
Authorization and classification
Before entering academia, I worked for many years as an analyst at the Department of State and the Department of Defense.
I had top-secret clearance, dealt with classified information, and participated in such meetings.
For example, I dealt with data related to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation.
[The Department of Justice appoints a special prosecutor to investigate the discovery of classified documents to Biden]
Handling classified written information is usually straightforward.
The papers are marked indicating the levels of secrecy.
Tens of thousands of people who work directly or as contractors for the United States Government have security clearances that allow them to access classified information.
Many never handle sensitive material, but need to be able to be present when this type of information is discussed.
Investigation into classified Biden documents 'comes at a difficult time' for attorney general
Jan 12, 202303:08
But not
all of the sensitive details describe covert operations or spy identities
.
Many are mundane.
A former colleague of mine, a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst, used to tell his students that he would never purposely, but inadvertently, share a piece of classified information in class.
It is difficult to remember many "minor" details that are sensitive.
Dealing with large amounts of classified information throughout a career increases the chance of accidentally sharing a small portion.
Spreading it on purpose is another matter.
This is how the ranking system works.
Rating levels and content
The United States Government uses three levels to designate the degree of sensitivity of information:
confidential, secret and top secret.
The lowest, "confidential," defines information the disclosure of which could harm the national security of the United States.
“Secret” refers to data that would have “serious” consequences, and “top secret” means that its disclosure will cause “exceptionally serious” harm.
[Investigation into classified Biden documents "comes at a difficult time" for attorney general]
At the top secret level, some information is "compartmented."
That means only certain people with top-secret security clearance can see it to reduce the risk of leaks.
The fact that someone has accreditation of the level corresponding to a document does not mean that they need to access it.
Often
the top secret level is used for more sensitive information
, such as information related to sources and methods, that is, how and from where intelligence information is collected.
Other designations indicate restricted access within the categories of top secret and secret.
Critical Information on the Design of Nuclear Weapons is a denomination given to material related to the design and operation of nuclear weapons and would be added to that of secret or top secret, since it is not a classification level in itself.
A person with a top-secret clearance working on counterinsurgency issues would not have access to it, for example.
There are three levels to designate classified documents: confidential, secret and top secret.jat306 / Getty Images/iStockphoto
It is common for written documents to contain confidential information at different levels, and some that is not even classified.
Individual paragraphs are marked to indicate the level of confidentiality.
For example, the title of a paper may be preceded by the marker “U”, which indicates that the title and existence of the document are unclassified.
Within a file, paragraphs can carry the flags “S” for secret, “C” for confidential, or “TS” for top secret.
The highest category of any part of the document determines its overall classification
.
This approach makes it easy to identify and remove reserved parts so that less sensitive sections can be shared in non-secret environments.
A sitting president can access any classified material.
Who decides?
Executive Order 13256, signed into law by former President Obama, specifies who can classify information.
The authority to take certain information—for example, the existence of a weapons program—and classify it as top secret is given to specific people, including the president and vice president and some agency heads.
Declassification procedures are complicated.
The president has the maximum power to do so and can do so at any time, subject to certain provisions of the Atomic Energy Law.
Deciding what information is classified is subjective.
Some data must be kept secret, such as the identity of undercover agents or war plans.
Others are not so obvious.
Should it be classified that the Secretary of State held a conversation with a counterpart?
The various agencies constantly disagree on issues like this.
The misuse of classified information, especially
if it is accidental, is often treated as an administrative matter.
More serious violations may result in criminal charges and penalties.
Federal law (18 US Code § 1924) states that anyone who “knowingly removes documents or materials without authorization and with the intent to retain them in an unauthorized location shall be fined under this heading or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.” stuff".
[The author of this article is Professor of the Practice of International Relations at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He previously worked as an analyst at the State Department and the Defense Department]