The Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, has warned that overclassifying too much information can “undermine” national security and “critical democratic objectives.”
Her warning comes shortly after classified documents were discovered at the home of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.
“Many have noted that the amount of information, whether properly or not, has increased significantly over the last 50 years and deficiency in the current system has led to over-classification as well as under-classification but imbalances significantly more with over-classification than under-classification,” Haines said.
“This is an urgent challenge to solve,” Haines continued, noting that over-classifying information “undermines critical democratic objectives such as increasing transparency to promote an informed citizenry and greater accountability,” and “undermines the basic trust that the public has in its government” as well as national security.
The National Intelligence director went on to cite Russia’s war in Ukraine as reasoning for the concerns prompted by over-classifying documents, stating that the war “demonstrates the importance of sharing intelligence on key national security threats with allies, partners and the public.”
Haines did, however, acknowledge that there are “pragmatic challenges” that the intelligence community faces trying to establish an information classification system that is effective, noting that some things simply must be kept secret or it will hinder intelligence officials trying to do their job or help avoid certain threats.
Information, however, should not be over-classified just because it is “embarrassing or inconvenient” Haines said.
Senate Intelligence Committee: Biden Admin Blocking Oversight
Haines’s appearance at the two-day conference comes after members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee expressed anger that the Biden administration had been blocking their oversight efforts after they asked to be granted access to the classified documents found in the homes of Biden, Pence, and former President Donald Trump.Members of the committee initially sought access to the materials—or at a minimum a damage assessment detailing the information they contained—following the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last summer.
Additional documents marked as classified have been found at Biden’s former Washington office, the Penn Biden Center, and at his Wilmington, Delaware home, as well as at Pence’s Indiana home.
The Biden administration has so far not granted the committee such access, citing their inability to do so as long as the Justice Department (DOJ) is investigating Trump and Biden’s mishandlings of the documents.
A special counsel has not yet been appointed in the case of the Pence classified documents.
“The notion of ‘We’re not going to give the Oversight Committee the ability to do its job until the special prosecutor somehow says it’s OK,’ doesn’t- doesn’t hold water. That’s not going to stand with all the members of Congress,” the lawmaker said.
Haines told attendees at last week’s conference that she was “grateful” for the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, which she said is “quite functional,” noting that the intelligence community strives to regularly communicate with the bipartisan committee and provide information to both Republicans and Democrats in a way that “promotes confidence in the system.”
