This letter was sent to the Charles J. Cooper at Cooper & Kirk, the law firm handling John Bolton’s business. The letter was sent on January 23, 2020, before the New York Times article appeared on January 26, 2020.
Letter from @WHNSC to @AmbJohnBolton attorney on problems with information contained in his manuscript. pic.twitter.com/OnMcBjUYie
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) January 29, 2020
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20504
Text: National Security Council Letter to John Bolton’s attorney – January 23, 2020
January 23, 2020
Charles J. Cooper
Cooper & Kirk
1523 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
SENT VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL TO CCOOPER@COOPERKIRK.COM
Dear Mr. Cooper:
Thank you for speaking yesterday by telephone. As we discussed, the National Security Council (NSC) Access Management directorate has been provided the manuscript submitted by your client, former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs John Bolton, for prepublication review. Based on our preliminary review, the manuscript appears to contain significant amounts of classified information. It also appears that some of this classified information is at the TOP SECRET level, which is defined by Executive Order 13526 as information that “reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security” of the United States if disclosed without authorization. Under federal law and the nondisclosure agreements your client signed as a condition for gaining access to classified information, the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information.
The manuscript remains under review in order for us to do our best to assist your client by identifying the classified information within the manuscript, while at the same time ensuring that publication does not harm the national security of the United States. We will do our best to work with you to ensure your client’s ability to tell his story in a manner that protects U.S. national security. We will be in touch with you shortly with additional, more detailed guidance regarding next steps that should enable you to revise the manuscript and move forward as expeditiously as possible.
Sincerely,
Ellen J. Knight
Senior Director for Records, Access, and
Information Security Management
