COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Gary Ross is the Director of the Intelligence Studies Program for the Washington D.C. teaching site of Texas A&M's Bush School. He's investigated cases for multiple U.S. Government agencies involving the mishandling of classified information.
"Government policy and government regulations require that classified information be stored appropriately in a SCIF, in a secure compartmented information facility, and it's specifically to avoid disclosure to unauthorized persons," Ross said.
All government employees and intelligence community officials granted a security clearance, receive training on handling and storing information appropriately, according to Ross. Prior to being given access to classified information, these employees sign non-disclosure agreements.
"If information that's classified is disclosed to people not authorized to receive it, it can impact national security," Ross said. "It can impact our ability to fight wars. It can impact our ability to create a national security policy."
Ross says the recent mishandling of classified documents could affect the nation's ability to defend itself, hinder our relationships with allies, as well as impair our ability to collect and analyze information about our adversaries. However, it all depends on the sovereignty of the information.
"The definition of confidential or secret or top secret is specifically based on the harm that would occur if that information was disclosed to unauthorized persons," Ross said. "Either some, serious, or exceptionally grave harm to national security."
Ross believes the ongoing case involving Julian Assange, who is currently being held at a high-security prison in the UK will lead to even more conversations about how classified documents and information should be handled in the future.
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