As I said in another thread, I am thoroughly disgusted with how our elected officials handle classified information. Much to do has been made about the documents themselves. When thinking about classified information, you should think beyond the documents themselves. The documents are only discussions of the classified information. For example, much to do has been made about Trump's authority to declassify. I do not know or care whether he has the authority to declassify a particular document. What is important is the subject itself. Has that subject been declassified. For example, say the document is about some sort of super surveillance program. Declassifying a document does not mean that program should suddenly be known to the general public or to our enemies. If a document has been declassified, that jeopardizes that program. Depending on the program, there might be hundreds of identical documents out there. They are generally written in an electronic format and then copies are made. As I have mentioned before, the dollar value of the document amounts to no more than the cost of printing and distribution. However, the value of the information contained in that document could be nearly incalculable. So, think beyond the document. It is the information in the document which is valuable, not the document itself.
