Much has been made in the media lately about classified government documents turning up in the homes and offices of two presidents and one vice-president. These documents were supposed to be turned over to the National Archives for proper retention and disposition after their use. The handling and retention of classified documents in a special manner dates back to 1774, and the Continental Congress. The U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 5, provides that Congress shall keep a journal of its proceedings and publish it periodically omitting parts that needed to remain secret. To understand what this has come to in this day and age, we need to take a look at the process of classifying and declassifying government documentation.
Classification Levels: The various levels of classification for confidential information were in use by the military when President Franklin Roosevelt put them into Executive Order No. 8381 in January, 1938, making it a misdemeanor to photograph, draw, or make a picture of military bases, or equipment. The order further established “secret”, “confidential”, or “restricted” as the various level of restricted access that applied to those things covered by the order. This was superseded by Executive Order No. 10290 in September, 1951, that set the levels as: “Top Secret”, “Secret”, “Confidential”, and “Restricted”. Both executive orders were aimed at protecting confidential and secret defense information from falling into the wrong hands during wartime. The classification levels were further clarified by Executive Order No. 13526 in December, 2009 as the “Restricted” level was removed.
What Information Should Be Classified: Arguably most information could fall under one of the three restricted categories. The standard applies to what would adversely impact national security if it were made public, or wound up in the hands of individuals who did not need to know the contents. Top secret documents could also have an additional classification known as “SI” for special intelligence or “SAP” for Special Access Programs that further restrict those with access to the document. Most secret and top secret documents originate in either the intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the State Department, or the White House. Some of the SI or SAP documents come from intelligence agents working abroad. Other top secret documents are guarded by a code word that permits only those individuals with both the clearance and the code word to view.
Who Determines Which Documents Should Be Classified: The President of the United States has the ultimate authority to classify or declassify government documents. All others in the government must have “original classification authority” in order to set a document down as classified to any of the three levels. Persons with the original classification authority can delegate this authority to other persons within the same agency. All persons who determine whether a document should have classified status must follow pre-established guidelines for that particular agency.
Proper Handling of Classified Documents: Top secret security clearances require an extensive background check in all cases except for the president, vice-president, and members of Congress. Those exempted individuals do not require background checks for a top secret clearance, although for members of Congress the issue is complicated. All are subject to votes of the people and take solemn oaths of office; and beginning with the 104th Congress this oath for members includes a secrecy oath. Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence take a separate oath as they are exposed to ultra secret, sensitive information often from the CIA or NSA. Access for certain classified documents sometimes takes place in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). The Situation Room in the White House, where the president is briefed daily by the CIA, is an example of an SCIF. Classified documents that are not in use must be returned to either a safe or a tamper-proof filing cabinet. Staffers that require access to classified documents in any level of government go though extensive training on the correct procedures for handling such documents.
When Classified Documents Are Declassified: All classified documents must be marked by the original classification authority with an expiration date not to exceed twenty-five years. Currently, classified documents are created at the rate of about 90 million per year, or about three each second. This has lead to a backlog of about 400 million documents with expiration dates set to twenty-five years that have passed the expiration date and need to be reviewed for declassification. For a document to be declassified it must be reviewed in its entirety to determine if releasing it to the public would cause any damage or danger to national security. This process is managed by the National Declassification Center of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Conclusions: The current brouhaha concerning President Biden, former President Trump, and former Vice-President Mike Pence over the discovery of documents in their personal residences, points to sloppy handling of classified material and not necessarily to malfeasance. The job is carried out by qualified staffers who, for whatever reason, did not apply the necessary care and thoroughness of handling those documents in spite of careful training.
Sources: History.com, Top Secret, Secret, Confidential: How are US Government Documents Classified? Dave Roos, February 6, 2003.
Wikipedia, Classified Information in the United States.
Clearance Jobs / News & Career Advice, Do Members of Congress Have Security Clearances? Lindy Kyzer, May 16, 2012.