The current occupant of the Oval Office is too senile to handle sensitive material, but he can have his finger on the button.
I spent 23 years in the Army and Army Reserve, branched as an intelligence officer (no comments from the peanut gallery please! ☺). Trust me, it’s not sexy James Bond stuff but boring as hell. Spending a lot of time researching and preparing briefings grinds you down.
One of the more unpleasant duties I preformed was serving as a 15-6 officer. Under Army Regulation 15-6, officers were appointed by a commander to investigate an infraction of the regulations or such. After investigating the incident, the appointed officer would report his findings and make recommendations.
As a Second Lieutenant I was assigned to review the mishandling of a Communications-Electronics Operation Instructions book, commonly known as a CEOI. A CEOI (name later changed to SOI, or Signal Operating Instructions), was a small book with the radio signals used by units from the company to the division level. They would change at midnight, for every unit in the Army, worldwide. A CEOI was valid for one month.
In 1989 my battalion executive officer called me in and explained how a CEOI was checked out from the battalion signal officer and held for 3 weeks. The sergeant who checked it out used it for a quick class for some soldiers on how to use these books. I was assigned to investigate the matter, and I made my report and recommendations to the battalion commander. That sergeant lost a strip, a month’s salary, and spent two months on extra duty.
Now a CEOI is classified as Confidential, the lowest level of classification. Next is Secret, then Top Secret, then Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). SCI is very restricted, as to gain access to it you must have specific need (e.g., required for your assignment), you must be “read on” to the program, and upon leaving, you must be read off.
I review this because last week the Senile-in-Chief, Joe Biden, was (unsurprising) not indicted for mishandling classified information from his time as vice president. Now to review Mr. Biden. He was elected as a senator at age 29 (turned 30 before he was sworn in) and has been an “officer of the United States” from 1973 to 2009 (US Senate) and from 2009 to 2017 (Vice President). As such, he would have to sign a Classified Information Non-Disclosure Agreement, or SF-312.
The first five worlds of the document are very clear: “Intending to be legally bound…” This is a contract between the US government and the person signing the document, where the signer certifies they know the requirements of storage and retention of classified information. Specifically, by signing the document you acknowledge: Unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a criminal act, and you can be prosecuted for it; any material remains the property of the US government; any monies made from the disclosure, directly or indirectly, are the property of the US government.
At the bottom of the form is a “Security Debriefing Acknowledgement.” When you leave the service, you are briefed on your requirements to not share classified information with anyone. The signer “reaffirm (s) that the provisions of the espionage laws, other federal criminal laws and executive orders applicable to the safeguarding of classified information have been made available to me; that I have returned all classified information in my custody; that I will not communicate or transmit classified information to any unauthorized person or organization; that I will promptly report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation any attempt by an unauthorized person to solicit classified information…”
Now for a man who has lied about his family background, educational achievements, and speaking with dead people (maybe the Dementia gives him a link to the dead…anything is possible), he avoided lying in admitting a crime. From Mediate, President Biden said “all the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets that were locked or able to be locked.” Filing cabinets?
Per the Code of Federal Regulations, 3a.61, Storage and custody of classified information.
(a) Unless specifically authorized by the Chairman or Executive Director, classified information and materials will be stored only in GSA-approved security containers in the Office of Administrative Operations. Such containers will be of steel construction with built-in, three-position, dial-type, manipulation-proof, changeable combination locks.
There are two types of GSA approved security containers, Type 5 (Top Secret, weapons and cash) and Type 6 (Secret and Confidential) information. Also, SCI must be stored in a Type 5 safe inside of a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). Per CNN, SCI documents were found in Mr. Biden’s home. Sorry, the garage is not a SCIF. Also, per the Special Council Report, then Vice President Biden shared classified data with a ghost writer who he was working on a book with. See the SF-312 about sharing classified data with unauthorized 3rd parties.
Special Council Robert Hur’s report is to the point, but for some reason he declines to prosecute the current president.
Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. These materials included (1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods. FBI agents recovered these materials from the garage, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home…
Something I need to emphasis here. Personal copies of classified material (e.g., notes taken from a top secret briefing) are classified material, they belong to the US government, and cannot be retained “…in my home was in filing cabinets that were locked or able to be locked.” When I was at my Military Intelligence Officer’s Basic Course, we took classes at the SCI level. We were issues classified note book for class and study. Once the class was over, the books were destroyed, for a reason. We took the security of SCI very seriously.
Many a liberal will scream about former President Trump’s classified documents at Mar-A-Lago. While there is some issue with the storage at his home, two points must be made. One, Joe Biden signed at least one SF-312 (and likely at least one of its predecessor’s, the SF-189) as a senator and the vice president, i.e., an officer of the United States (like me and several of the other writers on this site).
I defy anyone to show me a SF-312 with Donald Trump’s signature on it. He has never been an officer of the US. His entire time in government service, Donald Trump was 1/3 of the US government, i.e., the Executive Branch. As president, he can declassify information practically at will.
Two, Trump’s retention of material is covered by the Presidential Records Act, which gives him much more discretion and leeway in retaining sensitive and classified information. That does not cover a former cabinet officer like Mrs. Bill Clinton.
I’ve had to handle investigations of improper use of classified information for decades. Generally it’s by neglect and error, not intentional violation of the law. Joe Biden, in my learned opinion, did violate the law (he’s not the only one on Capitol Hill to deliberately retain classified material without authorization, both parties). But Biden’s was deliberate throughout a fifty plus year career, decades before those documents were covered by the Presidential Records Act.
But the elephant in the room is there. Joe Biden is senile and not up to serving as POTUS (in all honestly, he wasn’t up to it before he lost his mind). He should be charged for mishandling of classified information prior to 1/20/21. But with Merrick Garland at Just-Us, I don’t see that happening.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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