[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

That's not necessarily true. There's all kinds of information that may not necessarily be classified but still shouldn't be disclosed. Examples: contracting documents that show dollar figures or are competition-sensitive, source-selection documents, proprietary data, mishap-sensitive information, documents that fall under the Privacy Act of 1974, just to name a few. I would have expected more from a government employee of O'Neill's rank and position.

[PhiKapMom]

I am with you 100%.

When you work for the Government and leave you are required to sign a statement saying you will divulge no information you received on your job. What part of Need to Know did O'Neill not realize?

If the documents were classified, they would have had to have markings on them -- O'Neill is guilty for handing documents over from the Government over to a reporter IMHO. No excuses!

It was his job to know what was on those disc's before giving them to a writer. Not to mention the person who handed everything over to O'Neill should be fired and charges brought. There is NO excuse for classified documents to be given to a private citizen and O'Neill should be brought up on charges for divulging classified information. I would throw the book at him if it were me!