Intelligence experts have speculated on the contents of the boxes of classified materials Donald Trump kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
On June 13, the former president pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges in relation to allegations that he illegally retained sensitive and secret materials after he left the White House, and then obstructed the federal attempt to retrieve them from his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Prior to Trump's arraignment at a Miami court, prosecutors unsealed the historic indictment against the former president which stated that the material found included papers that detailed the "defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack."
Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act with each charge corresponding to a specific classified document. The indictment lays out a redacted description of the sensitive materials.
Speaking to CNN, intelligence experts Douglas London, formerly of the CIA's Clandestine Service, and Mark Stout, who previously worked as an intelligence analyst at the State Department and the CIA, discussed what the classified materials could have been.
The pair said that the description appears to confirm nuclear program details, as well as satellite imagery, briefings for the former president during his time in the White House, and work that may have originated from a spy working for the CIA.
A description of one of the documents reads: "TOP SECRET//[redacted]/[redacted]// ORCON/NOFORN. Document dated June 2020 concerning nuclear capabilities of a foreign country."
London said that the top secret document—the highest level of classification—about the nuclear program of a foreign country is so sensitive that even two of the codenames related to the document "have been redacted because of their sensitivity."
Due to the top secret nature of this and similar documents, London said that if the information it contained was leaked or made its way to the wrong hands it would do "exceptionally grave damage to the national security" of the U.S.
London explained that another document labeled "TOP SECRET//HCS-P/SI//ORCON-USGOV/NOFORN" may have contained information from a CIA spy.
London said that "HCS" means "Human Control System," which is intelligence acquired from a human source, while the "P" stands for "Proprietary," which London said means it came "from a particularly sensitive human source operation." In other words, a well-placed spy working for the CIA.
As for the rest of the document, "SI" stands for "Signals Intelligence," meaning the intelligence likely involved signals interception by the U.S. government, as in from a cell phone. "NOFORN" means that the document can't be shared with foreigners, whereas ORCON refers to "Originator Control," meaning the U.S. intelligence agency that produced the document needs to approve prior to it being shared elsewhere within the U.S. government.
There is another document about "military capabilities of a foreign country" from January 2020 labelled: "TOP SECRET//[redacted]/TK//ORCON/IMCON/NOFORN."
London said that the "TK" is short for "Talent Keyhole," meaning the intelligence came from some sort of overhead imagery, such as satellite systems.
Elsewhere, Stout told CNN that top secret and "special handling" documents with the description "White House intelligence briefing(s)," are most likely papers which were handed to Trump during his daily briefing at the Oval Office. Stout said that the information on these daily briefings to Trump would have been potentially so significant that "his hair is going to be on fire when you tell him."
"And you don't want foreign powers to know what the intelligence community is telling the president in a very closed meeting in the Oval Office," Stout said.
Trump has long denied any wrongdoing in connection to the classified documents investigation, including alleging that he declassified all the materials in question before he left the White House in January 2021.
Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
