Got any top secret documents?
Best to check in your garage behind all those garage sale items that didn’t sell like the life preservers, the 1970’s skinny pants, and the 5-pound container of Tang.
Classified documents are all the rage these days especially if you are a president, vice president, or chief of staff who packed some of those hot items in with personal papers when leaving office.
The folks in charge of storing classified documents, the National Archives, have sent a ‘ please return overdue materials” type of letter to past presidents and their former staff going back to President Reagan. These past and present administrations are covered by the Presidential Records Act. These may be classified or unclassified documents that are the property of the federal government, and thus, the National Archives. The letter went to staff of former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Representatives of former Vice Presidents Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle. Former President Carter’s aides did not receive a letter since the law didn’t go into effect until after he left office.
Some background is in order. Executive Orders issued by presidents, and not laws established by congress, create the rules for classifying and declassifying government documents. When asked about the trove of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home and resort, former President Trump declared that he could declassify documents simply by thinking about it. This is the Marvel Comics interpretation. Well, it’s actually not that easy. There are processes established by Executive Orders.
For those keeping score on compliance with the rules, some administrations receive an “A,” some get an “E” for effort, and some get an “X” for clueless. Representatives for former Presidents Clinton, G.W. and H.W. Bush, and Obama said they returned all their documents to the National Archives before leaving office. Carter’s people also checked and reported the same. Quayle and Cheney did too. All “A’s.”
President Joe Biden has pummeled former President Trump for the more than 300 documents he had stored at Mar-a-Lago discovered during an FBI raid. Unfortunately for Joe, classified documents have been found at a former office and more recently in his Wilmington, Delaware home. Surely former President Trump earns an “X,” particularly for denying he had any documents and not cooperating with the National Archives. However, President Biden looks a bit foolish for also bringing home some classified papers – intentionally or not – and having slammed Trump for his sloppiness. The revelation that former Vice President Mike Pence also had a dozen or so documents at his Indiana home takes a bit of pressure off other offenders. However, Washington reporters claim Biden has been hurt politically, but his damage will fade since Joe is seen as an honest guy.
I’ve had some experience with top secret crypto documents. When I was a young lad, Tio Sam sent me to Vietnam. I was a shiny new second lieutenant with the Army Security Agency. The agency did electronic intercept for the Army and was charged with keeping sensitive information secret. I’d been happy to have remained at Fort Devens, Massachusetts despite the freezing winters, but tio had other plans.
While I was at Davis Station, Tan San Nhut airbase in Saigon, I was assigned to investigate a missing top secret crypto document. Someone dropped it off in the mail room so I was assigned to learn how it got there. There was no real theft since it stayed within the confines of Davis Station, but it was a big deal for the Army. I made my investigation and issued my report. I got a pat on the back.
The military takes classified documents seriously. Elected officials ought to as well. But when I read that there are more classified government documents than unclassified, this becomes an obstacle to transparency and thus democracy. Are officials protecting the nation or themselves?
A partial solution to these reports of presidents taking home sensitive papers is to classify documents less often and sunset restrictions on documents that no longer warrant classification status.