Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • PM Modi in Manipur
  • Charlie Kirk killer
  • Sushila Karki
  • IND vs PAK
  • India-US ties
  • New human organ
  • Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale Movie Review
fp-logo
America's misplaced secrets: How the country is struggling to keep classified information safe
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • World
  • America's misplaced secrets: How the country is struggling to keep classified information safe

America's misplaced secrets: How the country is struggling to keep classified information safe

agence france-presse • January 27, 2023, 16:57:01 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

In the United States, the machinery of secrecy works overtime. Every year, some 50 million decisions are made on whether to mark government documents as ‘confidential,’ ‘secret’ or ’top secret’

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
America's misplaced secrets: How the country is struggling to keep classified information safe

Washington: The discovery of classified documents at the homes of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Mike Pence has rekindled a debate about an old habit of the US government — slapping millions of documents every year with labels of “secret,” “top secret” and other confidential designations. Nuclear secrets, names of spies, diplomatic cables: governments everywhere carefully protect information that could compromise security, names of agents or relations with other nations. But in the United States, the machinery of secrecy works overtime. Every year, some 50 million decisions are made on whether to mark government documents as “confidential,” “secret” or “top secret,” according to several experts. However, “an awful lot of classified documents are not that sensitive,” Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer currently at the Brookings Institution think tank, told AFP. [caption id=“attachment_12057772” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The discovery of classified documents at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence is scrambling the blame game in Washington. Now, lawmakers from both parties seem united in frustration with the string of mishaps in the handling of the US government’s secrets. File image/AP[/caption] “To classify military plans for Ukraine is legitimate,” Riedel added. But “it’s much more questionable (to classify) for a State Department cable reporting the secretary of state’s arrival in Israel on Monday” when the news has already been reported by the media. In 2016, a congressional report lamented that “50 to 90 per cent of classified material is not properly labelled.” When old documents are declassified, they can bring amusement, such as when the CIA lifted the secrecy on nearly century-old documents in 2011 that explained how to create invisible ink. Riedel blames “bureaucratic inertia” for the tendency to overclassify: “It’s the safe thing to do bureaucratically. If somebody asks why information got into the public domain, you can say it was ’leaked.’” A flawed system A “confidential” stamp limits the number of people allowed to view records and the secure conditions — sometimes free of all electronics — under which they are given access. Storage rules for classified material are strict, and violators can be prosecuted. When former President Trump left Washington, he took with him entire boxes of records, including highly classified documents, which led to a search of his Florida home last summer. Recently, a handful of classified documents were also found in the homes of Trump’s former vice president Pence, and also of President Biden, dating to the time when he was vice president under Barack Obama. [caption id=“attachment_12057732” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] When former President Donald Trump left Washington, he took with him entire boxes of records, including highly classified documents, which led to a search of his Florida home last summer. AP[/caption] “Some might conclude that the procedures in place for handling classified information are too lax. But that’s not the case,” according to Elizabeth Goitein, a national security expert at the Brennan Centre for Justice. “The protections for classified information are rigorous and extensive,” Goitein wrote in The Nation magazine. “The culprit lies elsewhere, in the original sin that underlies almost all the dysfunctions of the classification system: overclassification.” ‘The cynical or the careless’ The problem has long been identified and debated. Then-Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart noted in 1971 that “when everything is classified, then nothing is classified, and the system becomes one to be disregarded by the cynical or the careless, and to be manipulated by those intent on self-protection or self-promotion.” On several occasions, presidents or legislators have attempted to address this. “The (Bill) Clinton administration actually did make some real progress on this. They did have a big review and ended up reclassifying a lot of things, but I think that whatever progress was made in the 1990s was reversed and more by (the terrorist attacks of) 11 September,” said Ben Wizner, director of a speech and privacy project of the American Civil Liberties Union. He believes that authorities have classified documents in batches, among other things, to “hide evidence of torturing prisoners” in Iraq or Afghanistan, or “to declare the CIA’s drone program clandestine.” Beyond the transparency issues, he said too much classification undermines the efficiency of the administration: “You shrink the number of people whom you can consult about very important things.” In addition, the system “gives the government much too much discretion to decide whether and when to enforce those laws,” Wizner said. While some whistleblowers have received serious jail time, “it’s extremely unlikely that presidents Trump or Biden… will ever face any criminal sanction,” he added. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Tags
Donald Trump Joe Biden US government secret documents Classified Files classified documents government documents classified documents discovery
End of Article
Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Impact Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Erika Kirk delivered an emotional speech from her late husband's studio, addressing President Trump directly. She urged people to join a church and keep Charlie Kirk's mission alive, despite technical interruptions. Erika vowed to continue Charlie's campus tours and podcast, promising his mission will not end.

More Impact Shorts

Top Stories

Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?

Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?

As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland

As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland

Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar

Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar

Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe

Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe

Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?

Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?

As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland

As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland

Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar

Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar

Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe

Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV