I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that I'm more hardline on the whole documents fiasco than you are. Was really hoping that the DoJ wouldn't treat Trump with kid gloves when it comes to our national security, and I hope that Garland goes after Biden as hard, if not harder, to drive home that no one is above the law.
The opposite will probably happen (Trump let off the hook for DoJ not going after Biden), so I'm glad that at least one of us will come out satisfied in the end.
Nobody will be satisfied on the outcome of document mishandling. The real action will be in an Atlanta courtroom. I can’t happen soon enough for me. I think the main obstacle now is negotiations between Fani Willis and the feds who want first crack.
It's personal to me. As a 25-year-old US Army Lieutenant, I was assigned to run a Top-Secret communication center for a nuclear armed air defense battalion in Seattle. In addition to being Communications Officer, I had additional duties such as Crypto Custodian, Top Secret Control Officer, Top Secret Security Officer, Security Officer and Electronics Maintenance Officer. I had training in crypto at Fort Gordon and as Missile Master Maintenance Officer at Fort Bliss where the logic circuit diagrams were classified Secret. Unlike Joe Biden, who never had a real job until he became President, I took all of my duties seriously.
I had to take over additional duties for another US Army Top-Secret comcenter in Seattle when it was compromised. If nuclear authentication materials were compromised anywhere, I had to make sure that that replacement codes were in place within three hours. At the time all nuclear-related activities required two-man control. If one lock of a two-man safe located in a top-secret, guarded facility was found unlocked, the contents of that safe were considered compromised. Compromises were common and the careless parties were punished.
When I first got the job, distributing replacements for compromised materials within three hours was relatively easy. We had two helicopters and three pilots. The helicopters and pilots were soon reassigned to Vietnam, but the three-hour requirement remained in place. I then had to make other arrangements to replacement codes. Not easy when one of the missile sites was on an island in Puget Sound and another was in Bremerton on the Olympic Peninsula and many miles from Seattle. The third site was in Redmond, now the home of Microsoft and was within driving distance. When the ferry boats were parked for the night, we had to rely on military units that had fast boats and I arranged for agreements to that effect. I had to call our Commanding General about midnight one night when the man in charge of the boats had not gotten the word about urgent cooperation. Fortunately, he was a great leader and he had personally approved the agreements with the boat people.
None of this is intended to be bragging. It was all manageable, but it did require competence and taking a job seriously. If a non-genius, 25-year-old guy can do it, surely the most powerful office holder on earth with almost unlimited resources could do it. Hillary should be in prison. President Trump could have done better even though he had ultimate authority over classified materials. The current idiot in the White House evidently forgot things he did without authority while he was VP. Career politicians (and egomaniacs like Trump who could have followed protocol) are destroying our form of government.
Sounds like you had one job to do, and you did it well: which is much easier to do when you only have one job to do.
What we can see is that mishandling information is easy to do, perhaps too easy. Intent and actions taken after discovery of mishandling matter, perhaps more than the fact the information was mishandled in the first place.
"When Joe Biden steps forward and says "I took them on purpose, those documents belong to me, and I'm not giving them back, and also I just magically declassified them in my mind," then we can both-sides it, but until then, this is just a (serious) screw-up."
Most of what I described concerned only my duties as Crypto Custodian and Top Secret Control Officer. That was less than one-third of my duties and there was also cross training as a Tactical Control Officer because so many of them were being reassigned to Vietnam. In any supervisory or management position in a well-run organization, the number of direct reports is consistent with the work to be done. I had 15 employees consisting of enlisted men and women, warrant officers and DOD civilians.
The President has more direct reports than he can use and a total workforce of over four million in the executive branch. There is no excuse for a President to carelessly or arrogantly ignore national security responsibilities. Joe Biden is incompetent as president, and he was not authorized to keep unsecured documents or reclassify documents as VP. Serious screw ups are not excused by the applicable laws and regulations.
Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both."
Proving intent for Biden (and even for Trump) will be difficult, though perhaps less so for the latter. It will be the actions taken after classified material was found to be in an unauthorized location that matters most, at least to those not taking sides on the issue - and on that matter there is no comparison between the two.
Also, you're factually wrong: Vice Presidents do in fact have the ability to reclassify under an executive order from Obama in 2009 - which is still in effect. It's also irrelevant considering the classification status doesn't matter: it's government property regardless. (more reading at https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-documents/ if you prefer)
Good point although I have no idea why Obama or any president would do such a thing except under limited circumstances and where specifically delegated. There can be only one Commander in Chief. Typical Obama - leading from behind or not at all. I can't believe he would not see the potential for conflicts. Biden does not remember the documents or why he had them or how he got them. So, I suppose intent is irrelevant in his case.
One other thing to keep in mind re NARA: lack of budget increases over the past 30 years that limit updates to tracking systems, personnel expansion, etc...
RE: UKR-RUS - Russia is currently firing fewer artillery shells than Ukraine. Russia may have a bunch of tubes, but they're useless without sufficient production of new/refurbishment of old shells. Sanctions are slow, but they're doing their jobs in terms of limiting the ability of Russia to really ramp-up production.
It appears that MBTs are headed to UKR (thanks UK and Poland!), and to my knowledge their pilots are being trained on F-16/similar platforms.
Russia's on their third/fourth string when it comes to quality of soldiers, and they're wasting them to attack a small town (Soledar) and small city (Bakhmut) that have little strategic importance. If they do capture either completely they will be enjoying a Pyrrhic victory: they will be left so weakened they will be vulnerable to a Ukrainian counter-attack, and will likely lose more territory than they gained.
Stalingrad is an interesting comparison, but in this case the other way 'round: the Battle of Bakhmut has lasted as long (or is beginning to be longer than) the Battle of Stalingrad, and the positions are reversed.
I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that I'm more hardline on the whole documents fiasco than you are. Was really hoping that the DoJ wouldn't treat Trump with kid gloves when it comes to our national security, and I hope that Garland goes after Biden as hard, if not harder, to drive home that no one is above the law.
The opposite will probably happen (Trump let off the hook for DoJ not going after Biden), so I'm glad that at least one of us will come out satisfied in the end.
Nobody will be satisfied on the outcome of document mishandling. The real action will be in an Atlanta courtroom. I can’t happen soon enough for me. I think the main obstacle now is negotiations between Fani Willis and the feds who want first crack.
I expect the document mishandling to have nothing happen: the obstruction from Trump is another thing.
It's personal to me. As a 25-year-old US Army Lieutenant, I was assigned to run a Top-Secret communication center for a nuclear armed air defense battalion in Seattle. In addition to being Communications Officer, I had additional duties such as Crypto Custodian, Top Secret Control Officer, Top Secret Security Officer, Security Officer and Electronics Maintenance Officer. I had training in crypto at Fort Gordon and as Missile Master Maintenance Officer at Fort Bliss where the logic circuit diagrams were classified Secret. Unlike Joe Biden, who never had a real job until he became President, I took all of my duties seriously.
I had to take over additional duties for another US Army Top-Secret comcenter in Seattle when it was compromised. If nuclear authentication materials were compromised anywhere, I had to make sure that that replacement codes were in place within three hours. At the time all nuclear-related activities required two-man control. If one lock of a two-man safe located in a top-secret, guarded facility was found unlocked, the contents of that safe were considered compromised. Compromises were common and the careless parties were punished.
When I first got the job, distributing replacements for compromised materials within three hours was relatively easy. We had two helicopters and three pilots. The helicopters and pilots were soon reassigned to Vietnam, but the three-hour requirement remained in place. I then had to make other arrangements to replacement codes. Not easy when one of the missile sites was on an island in Puget Sound and another was in Bremerton on the Olympic Peninsula and many miles from Seattle. The third site was in Redmond, now the home of Microsoft and was within driving distance. When the ferry boats were parked for the night, we had to rely on military units that had fast boats and I arranged for agreements to that effect. I had to call our Commanding General about midnight one night when the man in charge of the boats had not gotten the word about urgent cooperation. Fortunately, he was a great leader and he had personally approved the agreements with the boat people.
None of this is intended to be bragging. It was all manageable, but it did require competence and taking a job seriously. If a non-genius, 25-year-old guy can do it, surely the most powerful office holder on earth with almost unlimited resources could do it. Hillary should be in prison. President Trump could have done better even though he had ultimate authority over classified materials. The current idiot in the White House evidently forgot things he did without authority while he was VP. Career politicians (and egomaniacs like Trump who could have followed protocol) are destroying our form of government.
Sounds like you had one job to do, and you did it well: which is much easier to do when you only have one job to do.
What we can see is that mishandling information is easy to do, perhaps too easy. Intent and actions taken after discovery of mishandling matter, perhaps more than the fact the information was mishandled in the first place.
"When Joe Biden steps forward and says "I took them on purpose, those documents belong to me, and I'm not giving them back, and also I just magically declassified them in my mind," then we can both-sides it, but until then, this is just a (serious) screw-up."
Most of what I described concerned only my duties as Crypto Custodian and Top Secret Control Officer. That was less than one-third of my duties and there was also cross training as a Tactical Control Officer because so many of them were being reassigned to Vietnam. In any supervisory or management position in a well-run organization, the number of direct reports is consistent with the work to be done. I had 15 employees consisting of enlisted men and women, warrant officers and DOD civilians.
The President has more direct reports than he can use and a total workforce of over four million in the executive branch. There is no excuse for a President to carelessly or arrogantly ignore national security responsibilities. Joe Biden is incompetent as president, and he was not authorized to keep unsecured documents or reclassify documents as VP. Serious screw ups are not excused by the applicable laws and regulations.
18 U.S. Code § 1924 - Unauthorized removal and …
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"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1924
Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both."
The money words there:
"knowingly removed", "intent to retain"
Proving intent for Biden (and even for Trump) will be difficult, though perhaps less so for the latter. It will be the actions taken after classified material was found to be in an unauthorized location that matters most, at least to those not taking sides on the issue - and on that matter there is no comparison between the two.
Also, you're factually wrong: Vice Presidents do in fact have the ability to reclassify under an executive order from Obama in 2009 - which is still in effect. It's also irrelevant considering the classification status doesn't matter: it's government property regardless. (more reading at https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-documents/ if you prefer)
Good point although I have no idea why Obama or any president would do such a thing except under limited circumstances and where specifically delegated. There can be only one Commander in Chief. Typical Obama - leading from behind or not at all. I can't believe he would not see the potential for conflicts. Biden does not remember the documents or why he had them or how he got them. So, I suppose intent is irrelevant in his case.
One other thing to keep in mind re NARA: lack of budget increases over the past 30 years that limit updates to tracking systems, personnel expansion, etc...
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/foia-audit/foia/2022-03-11/us-national-archives-nara-budget-30-year-flatline
RE: UKR-RUS - Russia is currently firing fewer artillery shells than Ukraine. Russia may have a bunch of tubes, but they're useless without sufficient production of new/refurbishment of old shells. Sanctions are slow, but they're doing their jobs in terms of limiting the ability of Russia to really ramp-up production.
It appears that MBTs are headed to UKR (thanks UK and Poland!), and to my knowledge their pilots are being trained on F-16/similar platforms.
Russia's on their third/fourth string when it comes to quality of soldiers, and they're wasting them to attack a small town (Soledar) and small city (Bakhmut) that have little strategic importance. If they do capture either completely they will be enjoying a Pyrrhic victory: they will be left so weakened they will be vulnerable to a Ukrainian counter-attack, and will likely lose more territory than they gained.
Stalingrad is an interesting comparison, but in this case the other way 'round: the Battle of Bakhmut has lasted as long (or is beginning to be longer than) the Battle of Stalingrad, and the positions are reversed.