Re: POTUS 45.10 - Stage Two in Perpetuity
"Declassify" is the wrong term.
Classified information that is leaked -- even it becomes public -- is still classified. What Trump did is not "illegal" because classification is a matter of authority descending from Executive Orders from the presidency itself. There is a semantic debate as to whether what Trump did can be called "improper." Propriety here is undefined.
But if for example somebody in the originating agency (NRO I guess?) were to today give the same information to say Iran, that would be a serious violation of rules governing classified data. The secret is still a secret even though it is, partially, out.
Now it is true that the president can declassify whatever he wants. Please give us the dirt on Area 51, Donald. And JFK. I'm kidding, we all know that was Allen Welsh Dulles. But to my knowledge Trump has not declassified anything.
Originally posted by ScoobyDoo
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Classified information that is leaked -- even it becomes public -- is still classified. What Trump did is not "illegal" because classification is a matter of authority descending from Executive Orders from the presidency itself. There is a semantic debate as to whether what Trump did can be called "improper." Propriety here is undefined.
But if for example somebody in the originating agency (NRO I guess?) were to today give the same information to say Iran, that would be a serious violation of rules governing classified data. The secret is still a secret even though it is, partially, out.
Now it is true that the president can declassify whatever he wants. Please give us the dirt on Area 51, Donald. And JFK. I'm kidding, we all know that was Allen Welsh Dulles. But to my knowledge Trump has not declassified anything.
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