The substance of the Abedin forwarded e-mail chain states:
Status update on the Chris Stevens mission to Benghazi:
The current game plan is for Mr. Stevens to move no later than Wednesday from Malta to Benghazi. He will stage off shore initially for a one day visit during which he will have meetings with TNC interlocutors and get a sense of the situation on the ground. The goal of this one day trip is for him to lay the groundwork for a stay of up to 30 days.
He will be accompanied by a DS team, a staff member from Embassy Tripoli and the leader of USAID's DART team. With the support of Ambassador Cretz and Embassy Tripoli, Mr Stevens is in contact with TNC members on the ground in Benghazi and elsewhere; the team is also in contact with other diplomatic missions and NGOs in Benghazi. We expect to get support in particular from the Turks who have a consulate in Benghazi.
Mr. Stevens team has been in touch with Africom planners on the details of the mission. We have made the official request for support from OSD but have yet to get approval. Once we have that — and we hope that will be very soon -- we will be able to move forward with the planning.
Rena Bitter<
Director, State Department Operations Center
202 647 2522
BitterR@state
The e-mail was sent via State's unsecured systems by Timmy T Davis to Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Joseph Macmanus. Rena Bitter sent the e-mail to Davis, also via State's unsecured system.
There were no classified markings on the documents prior to FOIA review. A B-5 marking (deliberative exemption, not classified) was added to a note from David to Abedin and Sullivan.
The substance of Sullivan's forwarded e-mail chain states:
Post reports that Libyans police have arrested several people today who may/may have some connection to the Benghazi attack. They were acting on information furnished by DS/R50. [B7 REDACTIONS - LAW ENFORCEMENT] That may or may not materialize, according to David McFarland. [B1.4(D) REDACTION - CLASSIFIED] Overall, this could lead to something operationally, or not, and it could lead to news accounts from Libya saying, there is a significant break in the case, or not.
At this point, just FYI.
This document includes the following notation:
Classified by DAS, A/GIS, DoS on 05/22/2015 — Class: SECRET/NOFORN — Reason: 1.4(D) — Declassify on: 11/18/2032
The email chain was forwarded by Jake Sullivan to Hillary Clinton. Sullivan received the forwarded chain from Jones, Beth E, who sent it to - Burns, William J; Sherman, Wendy R; Sullivan, Jacob Cc: Dibble, Elizabeth 1; Roebuck, William V.
Jones received the original e-mail from Roebuck, William V., who sent the email to Jones, Beth E; Maxwell, Raymond D; Abdalla, Alyce N; Sidereas, Evyenia; Miller, James N.
This emails had no classification markings prior to FOIA review and were sent over State's unsecured systems.
This raises interesting questions. First with regard to the Abedin e-mail, how is this remotely classified? And if it was, who would classify it? How long would it remain classified? Who failed in their classification duties? As for Hillary Clinton, well, she did not forward it and its not clear what happened after she did. Finally, what would be classified about this e-mail TODAY?
The Sullivan e-mail is also intriguing. It was designated TOP SECRET NOFORN - which requires the following finding:
Top Secret" shall be applied to information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe.
Boy I'd sure love to see the description of the "exceptionally grave damage" disclosure of this e-mail would cause. Frankly I believe not a single word of it.
But assuming it is so, how did this information get in the unsecured State Department system?
Well it was first disseminated at State by Roebuck, the Director of the Office of Maghreb Affairs located apparently at Foggy Bottom.
But how did he get this TOP SECRET!! information? Did he transcribe it from a secured classified information system? This seems extremely unlikely. So where did this information come from? It appears that Roebuck picked it up from parallel non-IC based sources.
In any event, we can see why the State Department is not buying in to the IC on this one.
PLEASE NOTE that this is a Fox report and it is not necessarily consistent with AP reporting that identified the classified info as being related to a news article on drone strikes in Pakistan.
In any event, presented for your consideration.