Mountains of evidence pointing to serious, deliberate crimes

[getagrip_already]

164. actually, i'm not...

As someone who falls under this particular code, I know how it works.

Information which becomes classified after the fact does not need to be purged from unclassified systems unless a specific notice is sent to look for it.

I'll give you an example. Lets say I had a conversation with x about y. Neither x nor y is classified. I send an email from an unclassified system to another unclassified system discussing it. No harm, no foul, right?

Ok, time goes by, and a completely different organization decides that any mention of y is classified. But, they make no effort to notify unsecured systems of that fact. It is not a violation of law to keep that email on the unclassified system.

Sorry, thats how it works. The owners of the unclassified system are under no obligation to retroactively scan their systems for data which may have become classified. In fact, they wouldn't (and shouldn't) have any access to the classified material so how would they even know?

Now if a classified document "accidentally" got sent to an unclassified system, the rules are different. Once dscovered, it is the finders responsibility to secure that document (not destroy it) and notify their site security officer. Once an intial investigation is performed, a purge of the data would take place. But even in this situation, the recipient isn't held accountable for the spillage (the sender would get a spanking though).

Spillage happens. Sometimes it's caught. Sometimes it isn't. But when you throw around the word "criminal" shit has to fall under a very narrow set of conditions.

What you are discussing isn't spillage. It's not a violation of the secrets act.

It "could" be if someone knowinglysent information they knew to be actively classified. It definately would be if someone cut and pad pasted it out of a classified document. But the mere presence of information retroactively classified on an unclassified system is not a criminal act. It isn't a best practice, but it isn't criminal.