--- title: Hillary Clinton Emails: Found to Be More Than 'Top Secret' description: Officials reviewing private emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found information considered to be more than "top secret" canonical: https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-20T12:56:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:16:29.454Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Emails: Information Found to Exceed 'Top Secret' og:description: The finding is the latest development in the controversy over Clinton's emails og:url: https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c9b45e956af7fe/69887950a988ca22a36b6239/gettyimages-473979902.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton Campigns In Iowa, Meeting With Small Business Owners og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Emails: Information Found to Exceed 'Top Secret' twitter:description: The finding is the latest development in the controversy over Clinton's emails twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c9b45e956af7fe/69887950a988ca22a36b6239/gettyimages-473979902.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Emails Found to Contain Information Classified as More Than 'Top Secret' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 20, 2016 12:56 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton was the subject of criticism at the Republican presidential debate on Thursday. Hillary Clinton was the subject of criticism at the Republican presidential debate on Thursday.Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 20, 2016 12:56 PM UTC Officials reviewing emails on the private computer server used by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found information considered to be more than “top secret,” according to a letter sent to lawmakers last week by intelligence officials. Some of the email information was determined to be “top secret/SAP,” which refers to “special access programs” that are often intelligence-gathering programs run by the Pentagon and C.I.A., [according to reports by the New York _Times_.](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-email-said-to-include-material-exceeding-top-secret.html?em%5Fpos=large&emc=edit%5Fnn%5F20160120&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=70158359&%5Fr=1) **_Read more:_**[_Read the 6 Most Interesting Hillary Clinton Emails_](http://time.com/4056800/read-the-6-most-interesting-hillary-clinton-emails/) [Clinton has faced scrutiny](http://time.com/4051264/hillary-clinton-says-she-has-been-as-open-as-possible-over-emails/) over the revelation that she used a private email server while she was Secretary of State. She previously said confidential data was [never put at risk](http://time.com/4066029/clinton-email-hackers/). “This is the same interagency dispute that has been playing out for months, and it does not change the fact that these emails were not classified at the time they were sent or received,” Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, told the _Times_. \[[New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-email-said-to-include-material-exceeding-top-secret.html?em%5Fpos=large&emc=edit%5Fnn%5F20160120&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=70158359&%5Fr=1)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Emails Found to Contain Information Classified as More Than 'Top Secret'","datePublished":"2016-01-20T12:56:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:16:29.454Z","description":"The finding is the latest development in the controversy over Clinton's emails","url":"https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c9b45e956af7fe/69887950a988ca22a36b6239/gettyimages-473979902.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1c9b45e956af7fe/69887950a988ca22a36b6239/gettyimages-473979902.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton Campigns In Iowa, Meeting With Small Business Owners","caption":"Hillary Clinton was the subject of criticism at the Republican presidential debate on Thursday.","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4186530/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret-intelligence/","name":"Hillary Clinton Emails Found to Contain Information Classified as More Than 'Top Secret'"}}]}] ```