Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   A minor technicality Date:   1/9/2016 10:31:49 AM

No, I am not saying she is above the law.  I'm merely pointing out that as a "classifying authority", if she was, she also had the authority to declassify it.  That is how formerly classifed material can be declassified - it is solely at the decretion of the person or aurthority that classified it in the first place.  I'll give you another example.  High level officials traveling itineraries are usually classified (for obvious reasons) or at a minimum stamped "For Official Use Only" (depending on who the traveler is), but then are usually declassfied at the completion of the travel.  So unless her talking points were based on intelligence from another classifying authority, she technically had the right to unclassify them.  Most of the time this is not done for convenience, as the email chain would imply, but as a minor technicality it may not be a big as deal than is implied. 

Classifying and unclassifying documents is an arcane, complex  and judgemental process at best.  Some people have said that the govenment overclassifies documents, many times just to keep them from the media.  And yes, it is a felony to transmit classified information in a non-secure environment and to those without a need to know, because it implies harm to the national security of th U.S.   But then, some regard the young man that worked at the CIA and did a mass disclosure of classified information, a hero.