Depends On What The Definition Of “Secret” Is

I confess that I’m feeling more than a bit of schadenfreude reading the rightwing bloggers’ responses to the Plame scandal over on the Daou Report. It so sucks being on the receiving end of the drip, drip, drip, doesn’t it?

Here’s one that’s fairly typically uninformed from Captain’s Quarters (all links available at the Daou Report), in which he, taking his cues from the RNC, piles on the ridiculous assertion that Plame was not covert, even if her status was labeled “secret.”

“Today’s Washington Post article on the State Department memo detailing Valerie Plame’s involvement in sending her husband to Niger lacks a great deal of context. Bloggers appear to assume that the (S) described in the article denotes the status of Plame’s identity, but a more careful read of a poorly-written article shows that it doesn’t mean that at all. Most people don’t understand that “secret” is the second-lowest classification grade possible. I would hope that NOC lists have much higher classification than that, and surely they do.

It all depends on how you look at it. It’s also the second-highest classification. There are only three levels of classified material: confidential, secret, top-secret. According to the very Washington Post article he quotes, covert agents are all classifed as “secret.”

Apparently, these people think that the government has a whole string of classified levels, many of which you don’t have to take seriously. Like “secret” which doesn’t really mean secret, it means kinda-sorta secret but not if you need to smear a political opponent. They assume that there also must be a bunch super-duper-double-cross-your-heart secret levels that you really, really, really shouldn’t tell the media about. But “secret?” Not a problem. Go ahead and spill your guts to Bob Novak.

Google is your friend:

Classified vs. Unclassified Information

In the U.S. information is called “classified” because it has been assigned one of the three levels, confidential, secret or top secret. Information which is not so labled is called unclassified information. The term declassified is used for information which has had its classification removed, and downgraded refers to information that has been assigned a lower classification level, but is still classified. Many documents are automatically downgraded and then declassified after some number of years. The U.S. government uses the term sensitive but unclassified (SBU) to refer to information that is not confidential, secret or top secret, but whose dissemination is still restricted. Reasons for such restrictions can include privacy regulations, court orders, and ongoing criminal investigations as well as national security. Information which was never classified is sometimes referred to as “open source” by those who work in national security.

Levels of Classification used by the U.S. Government

The United States Government classifies information according to the degree which the unauthorized disclosure would damage national security:

Top secret

This is the highest security level, and is defined as information which would cause “exceptionally grave damage” to national security if disclosed to the public. Despite public mystique, relatively little information is classified at “Top Secret” (when compared to the other levels of classification). Only that which is exceptionally sensitive (weapon design, presidential security information, nuclear-related projects, various intelligence information) is classified at the Top Secret level.

Secret

The second highest classification. Information is classified secret when its release would cause “serious damage” to national security. Most information that is “classified” is held at the secret sensitivity.

Confidential

The lowest classification level. It is defined as information which would “damage” national security if disclosed.

Unclassified is not technically a “classification”, this is the default, and refers to information which can be released to individuals without a clearance. Information that is unclassified is sometimes “restricted” in its dissemination. For example, the “law enforcement bulletins” often reported by the U.S. media when United States Department of Homeland Security raises the U.S. terror threat level are usually classified as “U//LES” or “Unclassified – Law Enforcement Sensitive.” This information is only supposed to be released to Law Enforcement groups (Sheriff, Police, etc.) Because the information is unclassified, however, it is sometimes released to the public as well. Information which is unclassified, but which the government does not believe should be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests is often classified as U//FOUO – Unclassified-For Official Use Only.

It is very serious if they were collecting and disseminating cheap political dirt from a classified document labeled “secret.” The definition of secret is secret, and it’s a big deal.

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