Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Former FBI Director James Comey was the subject last week of yet another Washington dust-devil involving what he might have said in some emails that he shouldn’t have said in emails.
Once again, we’re talking about Hillary Clinton, who, of course, used her personal emails for state business, like a lot of high-ranking officials from both parties have done, and who may have also said some things in emails that shouldn’t have been mentioned in emails.
These controversies are always raised by grandstanding senators and representatives who broadcast that these dedicated public servants belong in jail, to the resounding yawns of most voters.
Investigations revealed that no damage was done to national security by either Comey or Clinton through any misuse of emails.
That is causing me to wonder about the soundness of the decision making process for classifying information.
So, what is classified information and who gets to make that call?
Jeffrey Fields, a University of Southern California professor who used to contribute to the decisions about classification, defined classified information as “that which a government or agency deems sensitive enough to national security that access to it must be controlled and restricted.”
In theory that should mean tight control on who gets that information.
In practice, though, he said, “government employees sometimes reveal classified details accidentally in casual conversations and media interviews ... He or she may not even realize it at the time.”
Even when they realize later they divulged classified information, public employees tend to be reluctant to admit it, he said.
When no harm is done, I begin to wonder if that information should have been classified in the first place.
Here are the definitions that Executive Order 12356, the authority on classification, applies to classified information:
n ‘“Top secret’ shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.”
n ‘“Secret’ shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.”
n ‘“Confidential’ shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security.”
Classification decisions can be made by the president, agency heads and officials designated by the president in the Federal Register, and other officials designated in federal legislation.
The president, however, can declassify anything at any time.
Investigators have determined that neither Clinton nor Comey broke the law, even though Comey declared Clinton’s disregard for secrecy protocols to be “careless.”
To me, however, the ability to abuse classification to hide political ambitions or personal gain behind national security also deserves some investigation, especially when we have a president who cannot distinguish between his own interests and those of the nation.
Being in the media, I of course favor keeping classified information to an absolute minimum, anyway. It will always be a part of my job sometimes to learn things public officials wish I hadn’t.
And thank goodness, that part of a journalist’s job is still protected.
Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a semi-retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at: