Garret Graff tweeted out this interesting observation:
…The strangest document in this photo, the orange bordered “Secret//SCI” one in the foreground. “Secret//SCI” is an incredibly rare marking.
I checked today with three officials who have worked at the absolute highest levels of the US intelligence community and two of them had *NEVER* seen such a marked document in their careers.
“SCI” material is usually so sensitive that it is almost always “Top Secret”….
It’s impossible to know what type of document might be “Secret//SCI” but that highly unique combination of markings implies it’s a piece of intelligence where someone was paying extremely special and precise attention to the information inside.
“Secret” is less than “Top Secret” obviously and comes with a different test. “Secret” implies disclosure would cause “serious damage” to national security, while TS’s test is “grave danger”….
This is pure speculation on my part, but one thing that stands out to me as a possible “Secret//SCI” combo is gossipy intelligence about foreign officials or foreign leaders, potentially derived from a unique source or operation that would want to be protected.
One of the four example tests for a “Secret” classification is info that if disclosed would lead to “disruption of foreign relations significantly affecting the national security,” which you could read as something that would be more gossipy or embarrassing to, say, an ally.…
If we already know that some of the other info retrieved by the FBI was about the President of France, the idea that there’s other “Secret//SCI” info floating around about foreign officials in the Mar-a-Lago files would seem consistent….
Again, we don’t know what that “Secret//SCI” doc contains, but clearly it’s an incredibly rare & unique piece of intel, one someone—for some reason—paid an unusual amount of attention to classifying, which makes it intriguing why it’s one of the docs Trump held onto *longest*.
One thing that might fit that unique “Secret//SCI” category? Personal or financial gossip — e.g., potential kompromat! — about a foreign leader collected and reported by a US diplomat, e.g., a source who would not be considered “sensitive” and thus “Top Secret.”
One other theory, from some further investigation this am: A “SECRET/SCI” designation could come from an FBI interview of a source in a case related to national security or that references an SCI program (nukes!)….
But it would *incredibly* weird for FBI files to end up at the White House. The last time I can think of that happening? John Dean getting raw FBI files from Pat Gray in Watergate.
Originally tweeted by Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) on August 31, 2022.
I’m guessing it’s dirty gossip about foreign leaders. That’s exactly his speed. It’s very likely that at least some of these documents are blackmail material.
But yeah, is there any doubt that there are friendlies in the FBI who might have slipped him some files? None.