The affidavit justifying the FBI's actions at Mar-a-Lago has been made public. There are multiple references to the possibility that Trump may have had information in his residence that was kept from the highest levels of government and may constitute a violation of the Espionage Act.
The FBI was concerned that improper handling of the missing documents could compromise systems designed to protect human sources. The sources and methods that the intelligence community uses to get intelligence are some of the most sensitive secrets.
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Affidavits submitted by law enforcement in court typically describe why authorities have reason to believe there is evidence of criminal activity at a certain location.
The ability of U.S. presidents to declassify information is limited in certain areas, including those that the government considers "born secret", according to experts.
The affidavit refers to methods of controlling and authorizing electronic surveillance that target foreign agents and adversaries who are considered national security threats, which are regulated under congressional statutes.
A violation of the Espionage Act would be a result of the improper collection or disclosure of information.
The affidavit was made public on Friday by order of a federal judge. The judge who authorized the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is the same one who did it. The Washington Post had argued for the release of the affidavit.
The document was released after the approval of numerous redactions suggested by the DOJ in an effort to protect a significant number of civilians.
The names of FBI agents involved in the investigation and search of Mar-a-Lago need to be blacked out due to threats of violence. The identities of certain agents were included in un-redacted copies of the FBI's warrant, as well as receipts describing items seized from Mar-a-Lago.
The names of the agents were blacked out in some of the documents, but that didn't stop the website from publishing them.
The FBI's review of the classified materials taken from Mar-a-Lago in March found 184 documents with classification markings, including 92 marked "secret" and 25 marked "top secret". Handling challanges include "HCS, FISA, ORCON, NO FORN, and SI"
Clarifying sensitive information among individuals with security clearances is one of the uses of handling caveat. Someone with a top secret clearance can only see a document labeled "TS/HCS" if they are also authorized to know "human confidential sources." Intelligence community members take extreme care when protecting human sources due to the threats they face.
Only the department or office can authorize the dissemination of the document. Even if they are trusted by the U.S. government, "NO FORN" documents cannot be shared with non- U.S. citizens. The director of the National Security Agency is responsible for managing the control system that protects communications.
Federal investigators had served Trump with a grand jury subpoena in the spring in order to get some of the classified material that was transferred to his Florida estate after he lost the election. The National Archives has been in charge of the handling of president records since the late-1970s. The FBI got them in March.
The author of the affidavit wrote that he knew the documents classified at these levels typically contained NDI. National defense information is an initialism.
Three federal statutes were specified in the warrant for Mar-a-Lago. The Espionage Act forbids the gathering, transmission or loss of information that could harm the United States or give an advantage to a foreign country.
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