Our Leaders Are Hilariously Incompetent

 

So now Mike Pence has come forward and confessed to having classified documents in his home and has turned them over to the DoJ.  The political class is a veritable clown car full of incompetents.  As a reminder, presidents have the power to declassify but vice presidents do not. This is an important distinction between Trump’s (probably) faux jeopardy and the jeopardy of others.

Regular people go to no-kidding jail for what Biden and Pence have done.

Trump has, yet again, proven to be an exploding cigar in the faces of the Wile E. Coyotes of the Department of Justice.  In their Ahab-like obsession to harpoon the great orange whale, they have repeatedly made themselves ridiculous.

For several years in the early 2000s, I held a top-secret security clearance. I went through the security equivalent of a proctology exam, culminating with the FBI interviewing my neighbors and acquaintances.

One of the things you are thoroughly indoctrinated with, when your clearance is granted, is the understanding that classified documents are legally radioactive. Don’t look at them unless you absolutely have to. Don’t leave them in unprotected or unauthorized locations. And if you do, you and everyone in your entire social network will be thrown in jail. (Ok, that last part about your social network I sort of made up.)

The now repeated and cavalier mishandling of classified documents by politicians just goes to show what complete knuckleheads they are, at least in Pence’s case.  The repeated instances we know of with Biden suggest something rather more sinister.

To borrow from Admiral Forrestal’s famous observation, Biden’s consistent mistreatment of documents suggests something sinister in addition to his long-standing and thoroughgoing stupidity.

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  1. Keith Lowery Coolidge
    Keith Lowery
    @keithlowery

    Too funny.

    • #31
  2. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Keith Lowery (View Comment):

    Too funny.

    * chef’s kiss *

    • #32
  3. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    We’d classify anything we didn’t want folks to give to the press, or throw in the trash.     The overwhelming majority did not put the country at risk.   Materials that were sensitive, mostly because they were collected by folks who were undercover or otherwise at risk, we’d read when brought to us; a guy sat there until we finished.   The regular classified reading I had to do in a regional office where I should  know  20 some countries and  seldom had time, I’d take a folder home, or even read it on the bus.  I lived far away and the last bus was early, about 6 or 6:30 PM, otherwise I’d have worked until late.   Our bus passed through the Pentagon and one day a guy got on who threatened to turn me in if he ever saw me reading secret papers again.  The folder said secret in red.    So mostly, I’d save papers in my safe I thought might be sensitive that I should read and periodically stay late and read.  My wife came to get me with the three kids and we’d go out to eat if necessary.  Frankly I never found the super secret stuff particularly interesting or relevant to what I was doing but good post reporting was useful if you wanted to know what was going on in a country.  Mostly condensed news from conversations and newspapers telling us what was going on,  not sensitive because they didn’t mention sources.

    • #33
  4. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    I Walton (View Comment):

    We’d classify anything we didn’t want folks to give to the press, or throw in the trash. The overwhelming majority did not put the country at risk. Materials that were sensitive, mostly because they were collected by folks who were undercover or otherwise at risk, we’d read when brought to us; a guy sat there until we finished. The regular classified reading I had to do in a regional office where I should know 20 some countries and seldom had time, I’d take a folder home, or even read it on the bus. I lived far away and the last bus was early, about 6 or 6:30 PM, otherwise I’d have worked until late. Our bus passed through the Pentagon and one day a guy got on who threatened to turn me in if he ever saw me reading secret papers again. The folder said secret in red. So mostly, I’d save papers in my safe I thought might be sensitive that I should read and periodically stay late and read. My wife came to get me with the three kids and we’d go out to eat if necessary. Frankly I never found the super secret stuff particularly interesting or relevant to what I was doing but good post reporting was useful if you wanted to know what was going on in a country. Mostly condensed news from conversations and newspapers telling us what was going on, not sensitive because they didn’t mention sources.

    State Dept?

    • #34
  5. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    I actually suspect that it isn’t the principal in these cases that are mishandling the documents (though that possibility exists), but rather their staff.  Being on the staff of an “important personage” is the pinnacle of gov’t work.  Sure, the pay sucks, and the hours suck, and you get no recognition for your work…so why do people do it?  Because they are the behind the scenes creators of policy (at least in their minds), and it’s a jumping point to either political officer, consulting, or lobbying (two of which pay well, and all three make you wealthy).  One of the perquisites of being a staffer is that you have the same access as your principal.  After all, how can you advise the important personage on the proper talking points about the Krasnovia waffle industry if you cannot see the classified briefings that allow you to form your principal’s opinions?  Thus, it is often the staff that is actually looking at those documents, and over time they can get laxer and laxer in their info security because, for elected officials and staff, there are almost never repercussions for them.

    • #35
  6. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    Caryn (View Comment):

    I imagine none of these out-of-office guys personally packed up their own various files and offices into the boxes. Eventually they–or more likely a scholar or researcher years down the road–will go through them, but more likely they sit for years untouched. Of course, classified documents should have been stored differently in their offices and shouldn’t have been easily swept up into the various boxes. Nonetheless, it might be worthwhile to ask who in fact packed these boxes in the first place and how classified files might have been mixed with other paperwork.

    BTW, I don’t put it past a career bureaucrat deliberately doing it to Trump, given the opportunity. Call me paranoid, but that’s what an early morning raid on a former President’s residence does to a person. One thing I’m pretty certain of is that Trump did not pack up his office.

    Every President takes documents with them, some of them are classified, and there is usually a process for the Archives to request them back and the lawyers to talk it through.  The Trump imbroglio is partially part of this process where Trump wants to keep some of these documents for his library and the Archives are saying that he cannot.  Why it escalated to a raid is really a good question because it doesn’t make any sense.  Was it just designed to make Trump look bad?  Well, considering how the bureaucracy has treated him, that makes a ton of sense.  In fact, it is almost impossible to rationalize any other explanation.

    • #36
  7. DrewInWisconsin, Oik Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oik
    @DrewInWisconsin

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Every President takes documents with them, some of them are classified, and there is usually a process for the Archives to request them back and the lawyers to talk it through. The Trump imbroglio is partially part of this process where Trump wants to keep some of these documents for his library and the Archives are saying that he cannot. Why it escalated to a raid is really a good question because it doesn’t make any sense. Was it just designed to make Trump look bad? Well, considering how the bureaucracy has treated him, that makes a ton of sense. In fact, it is almost impossible to rationalize any other explanation.

    But I say we can’t have two sets of rules. If Trump is guilty for having some documents at Mar-a-Lago, then Biden is 5 times as guilty. The attempt to excuse Biden but still claim Trump is guilty is really something to behold.

    • #37
  8. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Every President takes documents with them, some of them are classified, and there is usually a process for the Archives to request them back and the lawyers to talk it through. The Trump imbroglio is partially part of this process where Trump wants to keep some of these documents for his library and the Archives are saying that he cannot. Why it escalated to a raid is really a good question because it doesn’t make any sense. Was it just designed to make Trump look bad? Well, considering how the bureaucracy has treated him, that makes a ton of sense. In fact, it is almost impossible to rationalize any other explanation.

    But I say we can’t have two sets of rules. If Trump is guilty for having some documents at Mar-a-Lago, then Biden is 5 times as guilty. The attempt to excuse Biden but still claim Trump is guilty is really something to behold.

    Oh, on that I 100% agree.  My wife and I were talking about that this morning (she is a Biden supporter, though reluctant) and she said that if we had documents like that in our home we would be in jail already.  I mentioned in  #35 that it is likely that the staff is the one being looser with the security of sensitive information.  Their principals don’t bother to secure the information so why should they?  Their principals will never get dinged for it because, reasons.  I knew an FBI employee who once told me that they would refuse to give any classified information to any Republican because they were going to use it for political purposes and leak it.  I asked if Democrats would do the same and they didn’t really have a response because they knew they (the Democrats) would as well, they just were a Democrat and disliked Republicans.  That was close to two decades ago and I suspect it is worse now.

    • #38
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