ABC News reports that former President Donald Trump told Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt "the supposed exact number of nuclear warheads [U.S. ballistic missile submarines] routinely carry, and exactly how close they supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected."
To its credit, ABC News notes only that the information was "potentially sensitive." In contrast, CNN's Wolf Blitzer referenced "very classified information" and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Blitzer it's "hard to overstate" how "extremely serious" the incident is.
DOES TAIWAN EVEN CARE IF IT CONTINUES TO EXIST?
On paper, any discussion of U.S. nuclear forces would appear to be highly detrimental and likely involving classified information. Except that concern over classified material requires a practical prerequisite. Namely, that hostile actors are not already aware of what the classified material would otherwise tell them. It is thus noteworthy that special counsel Jack Smith was made aware of these submarine allegations but did not indict Trump in relation to them. That in mind, here are some things that the Russian navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy (thanks largely to the Russian navy) already know.
Do not misunderstand me. Had Trump told Pratt about U.S. submarine patrol sectors, tactics, strike packages, and specific missions, he would deserve to have the book thrown at him. And if the Justice Department can prove the assertions listed in its indictment of Trump over his handling of dozens of classified documents, Trump will be convicted and should receive a custodial sentence. After all, these documents are said to include the holy grail of classified intelligence reporting: that related to nuclear weapons intelligence and CIA human agent reporting. The point here is that not all secret-sounding information is classified.
In turn, what's concerning about this submarine saga is not what Trump appears to have told Pratt, but rather what his willingness to speak to Pratt about submarines indicates what he may have told others about different, classified issues.