The classification system is a system of labeling materials based on the importance and sensitivity of the information they hold, and afterward limiting access to those cleared to look at such material.
There are three primary levels of classification. Confidential refers to information that is capable of damaging national security, Secret refers to information that could cause “serious” damage to national security, and Top Secret refers to information that could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to national security.
There are a variety of other designations, such as NOFORN (no foreign), FVEY (Five Eyes intelligence partners), ORCON (originator-controlled dissemination), FOUO (For Official Use Only), and others, multiple of which may apply to the same document.
There are many ways in which classified information can be damaging to the United States. The most obvious is material that contains direct information about American personnel, equipment or operations. The date of a military operation, a route taken by an ambassador’s motorcade or the weaknesses of a weapon system are obvious examples that, if exploited properly, can quite easily lead to American casualties.
Other examples include the war plans drawn up by the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which contain tactics and strategies the United States would utilize in a conflict against certain target countries. Details may include what weapons would strike what targets and from where, troop movements, contingency plans and more. If this information fell into enemy hands, our opponent would gain extremely good knowledge of when and where American forces would be and what they would be doing. Even if this did not lead to outright defeat, it would lead to many unnecessary casualties among U.S. and allied troops.
Information can also be indirectly damaging to national security. For example, if we gained knowledge that the range of a certain enemy missile was 623.4 nautical miles, and the country in question found out that U.S. intelligence agencies knew this number, they would immediately develop suspicions as to how the United States got such information. If they suspected it was through intercepted radio communications, they could upgrade or secure their equipment to prevent the United States from exploiting radio in the future.
If they suspected human involvement, and only a few scientists and soldiers in said country knew the exact range of the missile, said country could quickly narrow down which person was the leak and execute them. Additionally, they could find the identities of American intelligence operatives by investigating who the leaker was in contact with; anyone who interacted with said operatives would become a suspected spy, thus burning an entire operation.
It is for these reasons Donald Trump cannot be president. I understand how some feel he has been subject to a stream of tenuous impeachments and charges. Whatever you think of his previous indictments and impeachments, however, this time is different.
It is quite literally no exaggeration to say his improper handling of this information could have already led to casualties and failures in the field – the issue is we have no good way of assessing the damage. If a CIA handler in Tehran suddenly loses contact with one of his agents, he has no way of knowing how his guy or gal got burned. It could be that a businessman with Iranian contacts saw a document while he was sitting on the toilet at Mar-e-Lago. It is for these reasons the handling of classified documents must be taken seriously.
Considering Trump actively hid classified documents after being ordered to return them (something Mike Pence and Joe Biden did not do), he does not meet the standards of a person qualified to serve in government. He willfully flouts dangerous information because it serves his ego. He believes the law does not apply to him because these documents would have been too much work to find. Such a self-serving individual cannot be considered a patriot.
(Janagan Ramanathan is a Sartell High School alum, former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman and current aerospace engineering major at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.)
