Charles Lipson: How to Stop Politicians From Taking Classified Documents

You should know by now that there are too many classified documents floating around Florida, Delaware and Indiana. They were improperly stored and removed by Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Most of them, it seems, were hurriedly packed by government aides during an administration’s final days, even as the president and vice president were busy handling their official responsibilities.

National security law doesn’t distinguish between the accidental and deliberate mishandling of classified documents, but the public does. They are aware that the vice president and president carry heavy, official burdens at the moment…

You should know by now that there are too many classified documents floating around Florida, Delaware and Indiana. They were improperly stored and removed by Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Most of them, it seems, were hurriedly packed by government aides during an administration’s final days, even as the president and vice president were busy handling their official responsibilities.

National security law doesn’t distinguish between the accidental and deliberate mishandling of classified documents, but the public does. They are aware that the vice president and president carry heavy, official burdens until they are replaced. They also know their aides are responsible for packing up their official materials, which can often be thousands, and that they have to do this quickly.

The rush to solve problems has created predictable excuses. It is difficult to tell the difference between intentional misconduct and unintentional errors. What classified documents were mistakenly taken and which were deliberately taken? It is difficult to distinguish these two types in practice so officials attempt to conceal their wrongdoing with claims. “my aides made an understandable mistake during the rush to leave office.”

Fortunately, there’s a simple, inexpensive solution to this problem. The National Archives can offer senior officials a temporary safe place to store their material, giving them the time and space to sort them out methodically.

You could store materials in this safe, temporary area. Not They will be permanently transferred to the Archives. This final determination would be made by the vice president and former president. They would keep any unclassified material to which they were entitled, and discuss any ambiguous with the archivists. This arrangement would be different from current ones in that the materials would now be kept in a secure place while the discussions take places.

The former president and vice president would have plenty of time for their aides to double-check the documents and make sure they weren’t improperly removing classified materials. They would be able to discuss their findings with their aides, and if necessary, with the National Archives. This arrangement would also eliminate the excuse that “my staff removed these materials accidentally during the hurried final days in office.”

Even though the sums may seem trivial to the government, it is tedious and costly to sort through such documents. While the president, vice president and secretary of state are still in power, their aides are paid by the government. After they leave office, they aren’t. This financial problem can be solved easily enough by Congress. The aides needed to search the former president’s and vice president’s documents should be paid by the government. These aides would need to have classified clearances. They should be employed by the outgoing Executives, not National Archives. The former president and vice-president would have the first responsibility. However, the ultimate responsibility for the decisions would rest with them.

The Congress could make decisions about whether to extend similar arrangements for other outgoing officials like the secretaries to state and defense, and the national security advisor. This funding would be insignificant compared to the serious breaches of national security.

Now that we know the problem — the removal of classified documents by outgoing administrations and their improper storage — we need to solve it, not just place blame. We need to prevent mishandling of classified information in the future and find a way to eliminate excuses for actions taken intentionally. This is a simple solution that should work.