Blowing the lid off Hillary's Claim to have handled no Classified Material on her server.

Vincent J. Curtis

31 July 2015

It would be fruitful for FoxNews to look into how documents get classified in the U.S. government, and what briefings senior appointees from outside the regular bureaucracy receive concerning the generation of classified material.

For example, every cable originating from an overseas embassy ought initially to be classified as “secret” or “top secret”, depending upon the nature of the material.  Political appointees as Ambassadors surely receive briefings, if not downright training sessions, on the sensitive material their embassy generates.

In Canada, the originator of a government document is the initial authority for the classification of that document.   He or she can classify a document up to the highest level to which they are cleared.  Later, a document may be reviewed by those charged with maintaining government secrets, and that subsequent authority can lower, or increase, the security classification of the document, depending upon the sensitivity of the material.  The system in the United States cannot be too different from that.

As Secretary of State, Hillary ought to be generating classified documents constantly.  Her deliberations with her staff ought to be initially classified as secret, and any advice she tendered to the President ought to be considered as secret or top secret, initially.

In short, anything substantive pertaining to her job as Secretary of State ought to be initially classified as secret, or top secret by Hillary, herself!  She ought to have received a briefing upon her assumption of office on the protocols concerning the generation, handling and classification of sensitive material.

If FoxNews or similar news outlet can find a retired bureaucrat who can explain how sensitive material is classified in the U.S. government, they can blow the lid off Hillary’s statement that she handled no classified material on her personal server.  Her recommendation that her staff look into the advice of Sidney Blumenthal ought to have been classed as “secret.”

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