. >> thanks, katherine hawkins from the constitution project. i wanted to know one of my biggest frustrations is when information that has been in the public domain for in some cases over a decade is classified. now i've heard the explanation about how official acknowledgment can be problematic. but to give a specific example. if i'm talking to someone with a clearance, i can't discuss the fact -- or they can't discuss the fact that the cia has prisons in afghanistan during the war on terror, even though the afghan president acknowledged that. decisions like that make it hard to trust the legitimacy of the classification system. i wonder if someone can explain the rational for continuing to classify that information. >> if you want to explain the reason for things being rationale even if they may be talked about publicly. >> there is -- to start, there is that aspect of official acknowledgment, that there are some things that we are just not permitted under the law to acknowledge. those rules on classification come directly from the executive or