The Law of Classified Information: A Primer

The ongoing legal battle over former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s book is in large part a fight over classification. The Department of Justice argues that Bolton published classified information in his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton alleges that a career official at the National Security Council had approved his book for publication after several rounds of edits in prepublication review before political appointees reversed her judgment. On June 20, Judge Royce Lamberth denied the government’s motion to block release of the book but determined that “Bolton likely published classified materials”—and could face the loss of his book royalties as a result.

The Bolton debacle provides an opportunity to explain how the classification system—a system that affects some 4 million Americans—really functions: what law governs classification, what kinds of information may be classified, who decides what’s classified and how classification is enforced.