The past several months have seen allegations of mishandling classified documents brought against President Joe Biden, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former President Donald Trump, who was indicted last week by the Department of Justice on charges of doing that and more.
In light of these instances, there have been calls from lawmakers and the intelligence community for reform of the U.S. classification system. A common issue raised is overclassification.
“Overclassification of records plagues the Intelligence Community,” Chris Farrell, the director of investigations and research at the right-wing watchdog Judicial Watch and a former Army counterintelligence officer, told The Epoch Times.
“There is such a strong preponderance to classify everything imaginable and apply handling instructions to various programs and activities that it results in contempt for the classification system and disregard/abuse of what is ’really' classified,” he continued.
Farrell added that “whenever an agency or department wants to hide something from legitimate oversight or public ”right to know“—they classify it.”
Agreement in Congress
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress told The Epoch Times there need to be changes in the world of U.S. intelligence classification.“I think we classify way too many documents that are floating around, so we need to go back. And that’s been said long before I got here,” said Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus in the House.
“A lot of times for political purposes, things are provided from high levels, that for instance, only members of Congress you look at and we ... many of us don’t go to some of the classified hearings anymore because we’ve already read about it,” he continued. “So how can it be so top secret that nobody can see it, but you all are already reporting on it?”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also lamented there is overclassification in the intelligence community.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) decried the classification system as “over-broad” where agencies overclassify items as they do not want to be held accountable.
“It’s why these agencies demand closed-door briefings all the time, because they don’t want you there,” he said. “You know, they don’t want to have to answer questions in public. So I think we need some serious reform.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) stated that “too many things are classified” and claimed that “there’s been a number of instances that suggest that the handling of classified information, the volume of classified information, the necessity and relevance of classification, are all misaligned with some of the core goals we have.”
One example of overclassification, cited by Farrell, included an FBI report alleging that then-Vice President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a foreign official. But, while the document is unclassified, members of the House Oversight Committee could only view it in the House’s Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility, or SCIF.
“You can always find a better way of what’s classified, what’s not classified,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.). “But that’s part of the normal process. Let’s get better.”
However, not all lawmakers are on board with reforming the classification system, at least not yet.
“I don’t think that [we should jump the gun on classification reform]. Because we’ve had grave concerns about certain incidents [that] should cause us to have a visceral reaction. I think we need to think through this and then act but give it some deliberation,” said Rep. Al Green (D-Texas). “Right now, I think people are in a visceral mode, where they’re just responding spontaneously almost. Let’s kind of think about these things.”
“I think people just need to adhere to the classification standards,” said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.). “We overclassify in general. We need to declassify more, but the standards are well-proven, so we just need to honor [that].”
Classified material has been so mishandled that it has allegedly been found even in bathrooms and garages. There were allegedly boxes of classified documents in a bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, according to a federal indictment.
A ‘Starter’ Plan
Farrell said there is a way to avoid classified material from being mishandled.“Make people working with classified material leave ALL personal items in a locker room and have them change into a no-pockets jumpsuit (color-coded to clearance level),” he wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “They should be searched/scanned going into and out of their workplace.”
Farrell noted, though, that suggestion is just “a starter.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told The Epoch Times that the House Intelligence Committee, which he chairs, is “dealing with” classification reform.
“Being elected is not the same thing as being vetted,” he said.
At the end of the day, said Farrell, “The entire system needs to be overhauled.
“There will be enormous institutional resistance to changing anything. Each agency/department has their ‘pet rock’ interests and they will find reasons not to cooperate.”
