![]() The least restrictive level is confidential the most restrictive levels are top secret and above.Īlthough all classified documents can be viewed in a SCIF, it is not required that documents in the least restrictive classification categories be viewed in those facilities. The facilities are usually permanent, but they can also be temporary, since the president and vice president need access to sensitive information wherever they may be, including when on vacation.įitzpatrick referred collectively to “classified documents,” but there are differing levels of classification, with escalating levels of security clearances required to view them. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence distributes a 100+-page memo of specifications for the facilities, including criteria for doors and windows and rules for personnel and telecommunications. Those have to do with factors such as locks, isolation and building security, he said. The federal government and its contractors collectively have thousands of SCIFs in numerous locations, said Robert Deitz, a George Mason University public policy professor who previously worked at the CIA and as the National Security Agency’s general counsel.Ī SCIF “is a room - any room - that meets the requirements established by the intel community,” Deitz said. 14 on “Face the Nation,” after Trump’s documents came to light, saying, “Nobody’s claiming that it’s OK to have a, certainly I’m not, that it’s okay to have classified information anywhere outside of a SCIF.”Įxperts, however, told PolitiFact that Fitzpatrick exaggerated and oversimplified the relationship between classified documents and SCIFs. Fitzpatrick made much the same point Aug. We contacted Fitzpatrick’s office to ask for evidence to support his statement, but got no reply. Referring to Biden’s handling of materials with classified markings, Fitzpatrick cited his experience as an FBI special agent and a federal prosecutor, and said: “Classified documents can never be taken out of a SCIF, ever.”Ī SCIF, pronounced “skiff,” is intelligence community shorthand for “sensitive compartmented information facility.” It is a physical space that meets intelligence community protocols in which classified documents can be studied securely by officials with the proper security clearance. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who has served on the House Intelligence Committee, called for equal treatment of Biden’s case and the one involving former President Donald Trump, who is facing his own special counsel investigation of how classified documents and other government papers were stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. ![]() Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to determine whether Biden or his staff have broken any laws governing the handling of classified materials. President Joe Biden has been grappling with the discovery of classified documents at two locations: his post-vice presidential office in Washington, D.C., and his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |