![]() People within the government must receive security clearance to have access to certain classified documents. Who can see a Top Secret document and where? That may be because the information would reveal a source the United States uses or a certain method of obtaining intelligence information. For less sensitive classified material, he or she may make a judgment call about the impact the information could have on national security if disclosed.īut a classification of Top Secret SCI would be automatic, said Mudd. These higher level designations further restrict who can see the information and where it can be viewed.Ĭertain people within the government have classification authority. Not everyone with a Top Secret security clearance may be privy to the information in an SAP. For example, intercepted communications may be classified as Top Secret SCI.Īnother category of sensitive information within either Top Secret or Secret documents is known as an SAP, or special access program. ![]() Nuclear codes could be classified as Top Secret, for example, as well as information from an especially sensitive human source.īut there are even more narrow classifications within the Top Secret designation. “The difference between Secret and Top Secret is quite significant,” said Philip Mudd, a CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA analyst. What might be classified as a Top Secret document? Information is classified as Secret if the information is deemed to be able to cause “serious damage” to national security if revealed.Ĭonfidential is the least sensitive level of classification, applied to information that is reasonably expected to cause “damage” to national security if disclosed. Some of the materials recovered from Trump’s Florida home were marked as Top Secret SCI. ![]() Access to an SCI document can be even further restricted to a smaller group of people with specific security clearances. Information is classified as Top Secret if it “reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security,” according to a 2009 executive order that describes the classification system.Ī subset of Top Secret documents known as SCI, or sensitive compartmented information, is reserved for certain information derived from intelligence sources. This is the highest level of classification. There are three basic levels of classification, based on the damage that could be done to national security if the information was leaked. Here are key things to know about how the classification system works. The Justice Department removed some classified documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on August 8 while executing a search warrant for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes. By classifying information, the government restricts who can see the documents and where he or she can see them. The system can apply to documents regarding intelligence activities, foreign relations, military plans and programs for safeguarding nuclear materials, for example. The US government has a formal system of protecting information that, if disclosed, could hurt national security. ![]()
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