That’s my point, would the POTUS or anyone else have a need to know everything classified??
It’s an interesting question and one I’ll take a stab at from a purely layman’s point of view (never having a security clearance)
From what I understand POTUS is cleared for everything but doesn’t need to know everything. But if he wanted he could sit down and say, “gimme all the classified info about everything” and the keepers of the secrets would give it to him. But as a practical matter I doubt he would have time for all of that.
I suspect there might be instances where those in the know would be upfront with POTUS and tell him that he really doesn’t need to know something pertaining to sources and methods. That conversation would be like, “we got a source here...” and it’s intentionally left vague. It would be up to POTUS to decide if he wants to let it lie or pursue the matter. Personally, if I was POTUS, I wouldn’t want to know too much about that. A guy like Obama, who always thought he was the smartest in the room probably wants chapter and verse because he’s a narcissist.
I also suspect there are those in the ‘deep state’ the career folks who deal with classified material that know things that a President will never know. Just by being in the job for so long.
Just my .02 cent WAG.