The Wall Street Journal takes a look today at the latest document dump from the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server. Unsurprisingly, the State Department disagreed with many of the classification decisions made by the FBI, and a senior State official, Patrick Kennedy, lobbied to have them changed. Then there’s this:
When the FBI official refused to accede to the request, according to the summary, Mr. Kennedy went to a senior FBI official and offered what the official called a quid pro quo: “in exchange for marking the email unclassified, State would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more agents in countries where they are presently forbidden,’’ according to a summary of the FBI interview of the unidentified witness.
Alternatively, there’s this:
A senior FBI official told investigators that Mr. Kennedy reached out to him seeking help on the email issue, saying he wanted a different classification that would “allow him to archive the document in the basement of the [State Department] never to be seen again.’’ In response, the FBI official said he would “look into the email matter if Kennedy would provide authority concerning the FBI’s request to increase its personnel in Iraq.’’ That arrangement was ultimately rejected by others at the FBI.
So either State offered a sleazy deal or else the FBI offered a sleazy deal. I guess we’ll never know which.
But I have an entirely different question: Why is the FBI involved in classification decisions regarding State documents about foreign affairs? I’ve been a little fuzzy all along about where the classification decisions came from, and this is the first time that it’s seemed absolutely clear. But why? I thought the CIA and other members of the intelligence community did this stuff.
Also, no one knows what the hell is classified and what isn’t. It’s a mess.
