The Pilot News

Past US presidents, VPS asked to recheck for classified docs

- By Colleen Long, JILL Colvin and Zeke Miller

WASHINGTON (ap) — The National archives has asked former U.S. presidents and vice presidents to recheck their personal records for any classified documents following the news that President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence had such documents in their possession.

The archives sent a letter Thursday to representa­tives of former presidents and vice presidents extending back to Ronald Reagan to ensure compliance with the Presidenti­al Records act, according to a copy obtained by The associated Press. The act states that any records created or received by the president are the property of the U.S. government and will be managed by the archives at the end of an administra­tion.

The archives sent the letter to representa­tives of former Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and former Vice Presidents Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, al Gore and Dan Quayle.

Responsibi­lity to comply with the Presidenti­al Records act "does not diminish after the end of an administra­tion," the archives wrote in the letter. "Therefore, we request that you conduct an assessment of any materials held outside of (the archives) that relate to the administra­tion for which you serve as a designated representa­tive under the PRA, to determine whether bodies of materials previously assumed to be personal in nature might inadverten­tly contain Presidenti­al or Vice Presidenti­al records subject to the PRA, whether classified or unclassifi­ed."

Spokespeop­le for former Presidents Trump, Obama, Clinton and former Vice

Presidents Pence, Dick Cheney, al Gore and Dan Quayle did not immediatel­y respond to requests for comment.

Freddy Ford, chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, suggested in his response to the archives that Bush's office did not believe a search was necessary, saying, "Thank you for your note. We understand its purpose and remain confident that no such materials are in our possession."

Biden's lawyers came across classified documents from his time as vice president in a locked cabinet as they were packing up an office he no longer uses in November. Since then, subsequent searches by the FBI and Biden's lawyers have turned up more documents. Former Vice President Pence, too, this week, discovered documents and turned them in after saying previously he did not believe he had any.

The White House did not immediatel­y respond to a request for comment but the searches by Biden's attorneys and the FBI appear to fulfill the archives' request.

The archives had no comment. Handling of classified documents has been a problem off and on for decades, from presidents to Cabinet members and staff across multiple administra­tions stretching as far back as Jimmy Carter. But the issue has taken on greater significan­ce since former President Donald Trump willfully retained classified material at his Florida estate, prompting the unpreceden­ted FBI seizure of thousands of pages of records last year.

attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigat­e Trump's handling of the documents, and also Biden's.

It turns out that officials from all levels of government discover they are in possession of classified material and turn it over to

authoritie­s at least several times a year, according to another person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of classified documents.

Current and former officials involved in the handling of classified informatio­n say that while there are clear policies for how such informatio­n should be reviewed and stored, those policies are sometimes pushed aside at the highest levels. Teams of national security officials, secretarie­s and military aides who share responsibi­lity for keeping top-level executives informed — and the executives themselves — may bend the rules for convenienc­e, expediency or sometimes simple carelessne­ss.

While much of the attention has been on classified informatio­n, the Presidenti­al Records Act actually requires that, from the Reagan administra­tion onward, all records must be transferre­d to the Archives regardless of classifica­tion.

It's against federal law to have classified documents at an unauthoriz­ed location, but it's only a crime if it was done intentiona­lly.

Speaking Thursday at an unrelated news conference, FBI Director Christophe­r Wray said that though he could not discuss any specific ongoing investigat­ion, "We have had for quite a number of years any number of mishandlin­g investigat­ions. That is unfortunat­ely a regular part of our counterint­elligence division's and counterint­elligence program's work."

He said there was a need for people to be conscious of laws and rules governing the handling of classified informatio­n. "Those rules," he said, "are there for a reason."

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