Twitter “experts” are at it again. Social media has gone wild in response to the Department of Justice’s release of a photograph of a carpet full of classified materials seized by the FBI on Aug. 8 at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Trump supporters are outraged by this display, which is a standard seizure photo, but with classified documents instead of guns or drugs. Moreover, the former president’s claim that all these documents were declassified is contradicted by the visible classification markings still on them.
What’s depicted in the photo includes five documents with TOP SECRET//SCI cover sheets, meaning what’s behind the sheet is Sensitive Compartmented Information, which can only be stored or read in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF (pronounced “skiff”). The essence of this case is that the former president no longer had a SCIF at his Florida residence and that this information was therefore stored illegally.
The cover sheet also includes the boilerplate: “CONTAINS SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION UP TO HCS-P/SI/TK.” HCS-P stands for HUMINT Control System-Product, denoting intelligence derived from human sources. SI stands for Special Intelligence, signifying information derived from signals intelligence or SIGINT, while TK stands for TALENT KEYHOLE, an indication that the intelligence comes from technical collection, usually satellites.
However, the presence of a document classified SECRET//SCI in the middle of the picture has raised questions. Such SCI information is usually classified as TOP SECRET, but not always. Pundits have suggested that something may be amiss here since SECRET//SCI intelligence is “incredibly rare.”
Actually, it isn’t.
Particularly when it derives from SI, that is, SIGINT from the National Security Agency, SECRET//SI isn’t rare at all. I should know since I wrote quite a few intelligence reports that were classified SECRET//SI during my time with the NSA. Indeed, the director of national intelligence has declassified and released documents bearing that exact marking.
While TOP SECRET//SCI intelligence is more common, SECRET//SCI intelligence isn’t hard to find in the intelligence community. All the lower classification indicates is that the intelligence sources and methods used to collect that information were less sensitive than they would be at the TOP SECRET level. But it’s still SCI and can only be retained in a SCIF. Those are the legal rules.
There’s ample speculation about what’s lurking behind those cover sheets, but it’s impossible to say based on the limited information at hand. It should be noted that the salaciousness of the intelligence isn’t necessarily proportional to the classification level. I’ve seen straight SECRET-level reports that were juicier than some TOP SECRET//SCI intelligence.
Put another way, it’s time to wait and see — something Twitter doesn’t exactly excel at!
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
