[PhiKapMom]

You are so right! Classification of documents occur way before they reach the President. It is the responsibility of originating office to classify based on stringent guidelines.

[Sal]

See post #44. This judge is one of the "Magnificent Eight", eight US District Judges in DC appointed by Clinton who met monthly during his regime to discuss...??? I gotta wonder if it included Chinagate.

These were judges to whom US District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson improperly assigned cases related to the Clintons, including but not limited to Chinagate.

One possible way to slow down the RatCom assault on our national security is, every time the Enemy Within makes such an assault, we respond by bringing back FACTS from the Clinton era that most Americans never found out about.

We've got a lot better chance of getting information out now than we did back then.

[AndyJackson]

Sorry folks, but you are both wrong. Classification authority for national security information rests with the President and derives from Presidential executive orders. The Classification authority within any federal agency rests with the cabinet officer overseeing the agency. Sure folks further down the line mark stuff as classified, but actual authority is at the top. A Cabinet officer can declassify anything he wants, on his own say-so. Nothing is authomatically classified and only becomes classified because a human being adjudges that national security will be damaged if it is released. If no demonstrable damage to national security can occur then it is not properly classified.

This is why actual prosecutions and convictions for unauthorized disclosure of classified information are so rare. You must prove that it is deliberate and that actual damage to national security occurred. Failure to handle classified information in accordance with administrative procedures is subject to administrative sanctions, but has to fall into the gross negligence category before a criminal prosecution could occur.

[AndyJackson]

It is the responsibility of originating office to classify based on stringent guidelines.

Agency orders and classification guides, approved by the Secretary of the agency, classify the material. The office does not classify the material but merely marks the material appropriately according to the categorization of the information contained therein. If damage to national security would occur, but there is no guide saying that it is classified, then it is not classified until you apply to the agnecy and the approriate authorities declare the information classified, and the classification guides are appropriately ammended. Obviously it is handled carefully until the determination is made.