[COBOL2Java]

Many are unclassified, and none are marked “top secret,” the government’s most secure communications status.But some 11,000 are classified “secret,” 9,000 are labeled “noforn,” shorthand for material considered too delicate to be shared with any foreign government, and 4,000 are designated both secret and noforn.

Groan. I wish they had a reporter who knew something about classification markers. NOFORN is not a classification, it's a handling caveat, similar to FOUO (For Official Use Only). You can't have a document labeled NOFORN without a classification marking (e.g., TS//NOFORN; SECRET//NOFORN), so to say 9,000 are labeled NOFORN (implying that it's the only marking) is stupid if not misleading.

[KantianBurke]

Well it IS the New York Times lol.

[Reily]

yep and I bet all those described as NOFORN were UNCLASSIFIED//NOFORN. Ha !

It wouldn't surprise me that the NYT wrote the article that way implying NOFORN was a trifle to keep the argument going that Manning did little harm.

Anyway some SECRET//NOFORN are potentially more damaging then some documents labeled TS.