Memories of the Walker family spy ring and British double agent Kim Philby could be resurrected if a new angle of the FBI investigation works toward its logical conclusion.  Catherine Herridge of Fox News reports that the FBI is going directly to the intelligence agencies that generated the assessments to determine the original classification level.

The investigators "will go directly to depose specific individuals in agencies who generated the highly classified materials."

This is the prudent and smart thing to do in order to get specifics on the classification authority and to compare original documents with those that were stripped of classification markings.  But there is potentially something deeper and more sinister going on.

Recently, Col. Mike Ford reported to A.T. readers and scooped the rest of the media, explaining how U.S. classified computer systems work and how material stored on the systems cannot electronically "spill" or "jump" between systems.  In other words, it takes a conscious act to print, copy, scan, etc. classified documents and then put them on an unclassified system.

That the investigators are going to the source of the documents is actually just scratching the surface of what could be a major scandal encompassing the agencies themselves.  Just because the State Department has JWICS (Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System) and connectivity to the I.C. (intelligence community), that doesn´t mean Hillary, Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, or even most people at State INR (Bureau of Intelligence and Research) would have access to SAP (Special Access Program) material.  There are only certain people who read on to specific programs.  Bosses would not necessarily have access to programs their own analysts are working on and vice versa; that's why they're called compartmented.  In fact, Fox News confirmed that at least one email had an "HCS-0" marking, which is extremely sensitive HUMINT information.

The JWICS recognizes those individuals who have been read on to the different compartments – or not.  In my opinion, the underlying reason to go to the sources of the assessments is to not only determine original classification, but to root out those who had access to those programs.  This means Clinton-friendly members of the I.C. who were read on were not only "grossly mishandling" classified information, but committing espionage within the I.C. itself.

It was not long ago that reports surfaced about Hillary's informal intel network and the Clinton tactic of securing patronage jobs in the intelligence community for promoting their own interests.  This is why the intelligence source in the Fox News report said, "The bureau [FBI] does not waive its primacy in espionage cases."

The FBI appears to have moved from a criminal investigation into an espionage investigation.

John Smith is a former intelligence officer of the United States.