Declassified?

Not so fast.

Donald Trump’s recent claim that he had a standing order that any classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago were declassified on arrival reminds me of an old joke from the days when Catholics were prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. A priest, pondering the steak in front of him, makes the sign of the cross and says, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I baptize thee Cod.”

On multiple occasions during his presidency, Trump asserted his “absolute authority” to declassify anything he wanted to. That assertion is true, sort of.

Trump had the authority to declassify anything that was classified by the United States. He did not have the authority to declassify materials given to the United States by another country without that country’s permission. While he might declassify foreign government intelligence (or FGI) with personal impunity, the foreign government in question would likely approach further intelligence sharing with elevated concern and might well withhold some intelligence that could place US intelligence operations at greater risk. Indeed, such an event happened early in the Trump administration when he boasted of intelligence he received from an intelligence sharing partner in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to Washington. His blabbing jeopardized an ally’s intelligence sources and operations in Syria and doubtless limited the flow of intelligence from that ally.

A lot of intelligence used by the United States comes from allies and intelligence partners, or is generated through agreements that limit how and to whom intelligence is shared. The Five-Eyes (or FVEY) agreement is often referred to in the press and by the US Government. The FVEY community consists of the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Intelligence that is shared through the FVEY agreement is shared with the understanding that one partner will not arbitrarily share with countries outside the agreement, or declassify intelligence, without notifying the others. While most intelligence disseminated through FVEY channels is probably US in origin (we have the most resources, after all), not all is. Playing fast and loose with classified materials from or shared with foreign governments rattles their confidence in our reliability and will cause them to limit future participation, to our detriment.

Declassifying intelligence doesn’t consist of waving a wand or wishing it so, in spite of what the former president and some of his apologists think. Every classified document produced by the US Intelligence Community carries a declassification date or condition. This allows the community to determine when the overall document can or should be reviewed for declassification. Moreover, every document is portion marked. Paragraphs and images within the document are marked with the appropriate classification, ranging from Unclassified to Top Secret and higher. This is done to facilitate release to the public, allies, other government bodies, and to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. All of this means that impromptu declassification must be done in a manner that details why, when, and what parts of a document are declassified, and who is to know about it.

Trump’s magic wand act — if it ever actually happened — makes actual and responsible declassification impossible.

Moreover, declassifying the documents — described as “sets” and possibly consisting of boxes of documents — implies Trump had some cognizance of what the documents concerned and said. This is the Donald Trump who famously and self-admittedly does not read and who blew off most of his intelligence briefings during his four years in office.

It’s not a leap to think he knew only that the documents had value because someone else might want them.

Yes, Presidents of the United States — while in office — have the authority, within limits, to declassify whatever they want. But, to do so impulsively, spuriously, “retroactively” (to cover criminal removal and storage?) jeopardizes the nation’s security and our standing with allies and violates the oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”