Those of us who were vocal about former President
Donald Trump’s
hoarding of classified documents at
Mar-a-Lago
cannot shrink from our responsibility to speak out now that President
Joe Biden
is embroiled in a related scandal.
There are stark differences in terms of intent and obstruction. Biden may have had no idea that there were classified materials stored away in various locations, while Trump appears to have known he retained such materials and then refused to return them. But the fact remains that classified material from Biden’s private properties has spilled into the public domain. And that is a serious counterintelligence problem.
The appointment of a
special prosecutor
by Attorney General Merrick Garland is important. We need to ensure total fairness and objectivity from the Department of Justice when it comes to investigating the mishandling of classified information, which is just flat-out wrong, whoever does it. I would also hope and assume that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence orders a damage assessment on this spill as they did with Trump.
But the top line is clear. Whether inadvertent or deliberate, leaving classified documents in unsecured spaces is dangerous. It risks the exposure of sources and methods. With all the noise on this issue in the media and between the highly polarized political classes, we must remember what keeps the intelligence community up at night. An unsecured document that contains information from a human source can get that person killed. It can dissuade others from taking grave risks to share exceptionally valuable information in the future. An unsecured document that contains information on how the United States is intercepting foreign communications can allow a foreign government to close down that line of collection. Put simply, unsecured classified materials are no joking matter.
We can argue about the differences between the Trump and Biden cases all day long. But I know my old colleagues in the
national security
space are likely thinking to themselves, “What the heck is wrong with these political leaders and their staff who can’t seem to properly handle our classified material correctly?” It’s the right question to ask. A clear and robust apolitical message should be sent to the political world: Tighten up everyone — lives and America’s security are at stake.
If nothing else, it’s worth considering what would occur to a rank-and-file employee of the intelligence community who was found to be storing classified material in their home office and garage. For one, their security clearance would be stripped, and they would be fired. Perhaps they would not be prosecuted if this was all inadvertent. But no doubt, they would be tending bar at the Vienna Inn rather than heading down Route 123 to work at Langley.
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Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. A former CIA senior operations officer, he retired in 2019 after a 26-year career serving in the Near East and South Asia. His book Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA was published in June 2021 by Harper Collins.
