How Classified Emails are Classified

As a front runner in the presidential race, Hillary Clinton is usually in the news -- and we know it’s not always positive.

Recently, her emails were back in the limelight (and yes, I will spare you most of the details since you probably tired of hearing about it already). This time around, a government watchdog claimed that she sent classified information over her private email account - something she’s repeatedly denied.

Now, I’m not going to speculate on if what Hillary did is legal or ethical or not, but I will take the road less-traveled and take a look at how classified information works.

Let start by looking at who gets to classify information. The president and vice president, of course, get to classify information, along with the heads of agencies like the Secretary of State. Government officials can also be granted access to classify information if they are designated the power by the president or an agency head.

There is of course training that comes with this authority, but in theory, if your job puts you in a position where you’ll need to determine the threat some piece of information poses to national security, you’ll be given the authority.

Now there are three levels of classification: Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential. Top Secret, the highest distinction, is only given to information that is expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. Secret, the middle classification, is given to information that could cause serious damage to national security, and Confidential, the lowest classification level, is given to information that could damage our national security.

Information that is typically classified usually has to do with the military - namely war plans, weapon systems and operations, foreign intelligence activates, sources methods and cryptology, and the development, production and use of WMDs to name a few.

Scientific, technological or economic matters relation to national security and the vulnerabilities and capabilities or our national systems, infrastructures, projects, and plans are areas in which information would be classified as well.  And lastly, most things pertaining to foreign relations and foreign government information can also be considered for classification But despite this long and inclusive list, anything can be classified as long as someone with the proper authority determines the information to be a threat to national security.

So how does this fit into the Clinton email debacle? We know on the surface that she had the most control over classified information within the State Department. She had the authority to classify information and the ability to delegate that power to subordinates. She also was the head of an agency that is required to have protocols in place for sending classified information over email and, as the Wall Street Journal points out, she and the state department are obligated to respect the classification determinations of other agencies and thus required to handle that information the same way.

It is still unclear whether her server was approved for sending classified information; something that she denies doing, and it’s unclear how her strict use of a private email server changed the protocols for handling classified information. Not to mention the litany of other legal questions this situation raises. But absent answers only one thing is guaranteed: people are going to keep talking about it.