Last week, we learned that Executive Order 12958 appears to mandate that the White House carry out an internal investigation when classified information gets leaked, as was clearly the case with the Plame Game scandal. This week, we might be hearing more about a little form called SF 312.
Anyone who works for a presidential administration and needs clearance to receive classified materials has to sign something called Standard Form 312, which is a nondisclosure agreement for federal officials. As Think Progress noted over the weekend, there’s one key part of the document that Karl Rove (and his defenders) seem to have overlooked.
Question 19: If information that a signer of the SF 312 knows to have been classified appears in a public source, for example, in a newspaper article, may the signer assume that the information has been declassified and disseminate it elsewhere?
Answer: No. Information remains classified until it has been officially declassified. Its disclosure in a public source does not declassify the information. Of course, merely quoting the public source in the abstract is not a second unauthorized disclosure. However, before disseminating the information elsewhere or confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, further dissemination of the information or confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.
Let’s say we accept Rove-generated spin and that Rove learned about Plame from a reporter and that Novak acquired this information without Rove’s help, but called him to confirm. There’s no reason to believe this, but let’s do so, just for the sake of conversation. Even if this claim is true, it’s still a legal problem for which there is no obvious defense.
Rove, who of course signed SF 312, knew classified information, and according to his own spin, confirmed it to Novak. But Rove wasn’t supposed to and had a legal obligation to check on the classification status of the information. He didn’t.
In fact, to his credit, Tim Russert brought this up with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman yesterday.
Russert: When one is given classified clearance, they are asked to sign an oath, and they are given a briefing book with form — Standard Form 312, it’s called. And if you read this briefing book, it says this: “Before…confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of” — “SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not…confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.”
So by confirming a story from Robert Novak or sharing information with Matt Cooper, no matter where it came from, if, in fact, it was classified information, without seeking to determine whether it was declassified, it is an unauthorized disclosure.
Mehlman: Well, you’re making an assumption that it’s classified information.
That’s it? We’re not supposed to assume that the identity of an undercover CIA agent is classified?
If that’s the best Mehlman can come up with, SF 312 could become quite a nuisance for the Bush gang.