I
Because there were no other classification markings that would indicate the document was actually classified as all classified documents would have.
Rep. Cartwright: Was there a header on the three documents that weāve discussed today that had the little ācā in the text someplace?
Director Comey: No, there were three e-mails. The ācā was in the body in the text, but there was no header on the email or in the text.
Rep. Cartwright: So if Secretary Clinton really were an expert at what's classified and whatās not classified and we're following the manual, the absence of a header would tell her immediately that those three documents were not classified. Am I correct in that?
Director Comey: That would be a reasonable inference.
In addition, the State Department spokesperson made clear yesterday that these emails, which discussed call information for the Secretary, included these ācās by mistake, and the information was not in fact classified:
āGenerally speaking, thereās a standard process for developing call sheets for the Secretary of State. Call sheets are often marked ā itās not untypical at all for them to be marked at the confidential level - prior to a decision by the Secretary that he or she will make that call. Oftentimes, once it is clear that the Secretary intends to make a call, the department will then consider the call sheet SBU, sensitive but unclassified, or unclassified altogether, and then mark it appropriately and prepare it for the secretaryās use in actually making the call. The classification of a call sheet therefore is not necessarily fixed in time, and staffers in the Secretaryās office who are involved in preparing and finalizing these call sheets, they understand that. ⦠Those markings were a human error. They didnāt need to be there.ā