Just kinda sorta playing devil’s advocate here (and with Hellary the word is quite synonymous).
Does the SOS have the ability to declassify documents?
I am assuming that it entails a little more than just removing the tags or blotting the word “CLASSIFIED” out with a magic marker.
But is there some way that she can slip out of this?
As I replied to #30, the SoS is one of the Originating Classification Authorities, but not the only one. She has the authority to declassify information within her purview but not within some other OCA’s purview. If the classified material is DoD then she has to handle it according to their security guidelines. Each OCA has their security office generate a security classification guide which, by the name, provides guidance to all workers how to handle the material. To declassify material generally requires a process where the different stakeholders get a chance to reply to the effects of declassification.
Only the Original Classification Authority (OCA) can declassify documents. Hillary could claim the authority to declassify DoS documents, but not those from any other agency. The actions violated numerous regulations as well as US code and Executive Orders.
There are numerous people who have lost their clearances and even gone to jail for inadvertently disclosing classified info. Such information cannot be legally transferred out of secured locations by any means without authorization and never by non-secure methods such as email.
You can legally transfer materials from low systems to high systems (NIPR to SIPR), but never from high to low. Once material is loaded on a secure system, you cannot transfer it back to the low side even though it’s not classified.