be authorized to declassify them (see link)...this would involve the 'Atomic Energy Act...here's an excerpt from the linked article...
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There is some classified information that is classified not necessarily pursuant to the President’s Article Two constitutional authority as commander in chief and chief official responsible for foreign relations. And the most notable example of that would be information relating to nuclear weapons, atomic energy — that information is protected by virtue of statute. There is other information that’s protected by virtue of statute, for example, the identity of covert U.S. intelligence operatives. That sort of information and other sensitive intelligence sources and methods are protected pursuant to law, not necessarily protected pursuant to the president’s unilateral classification authority. And likewise, there’s some information that we receive from foreign governments that is protected pursuant to international treaty or bilateral treaties, that likewise carry the force of law.
So even an incumbent president does not have total, unfettered authority to declare information unclassified at will. Certainly, a former president has no authority to declassify any sort of information.
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If indeed nuclear weapons related documents...and/or intelligence operative information...were being kept in Trump's home...he's gong down on this alone...and all those who aided and abetted his removal - and keepong - of those documents...wouldn't surprise me if a few underlings get squeezed very, very hard for what really went on in the White House prior to Jan. 20, 2021 and subsequently at Mar-a-Lago.
Link: https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/08/10/what-the-governments-former-top-classified-records-overseer-sees-in-the-mar-a-lago-search/
Lock him up!
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Seems like someone was asleep at the switch.
That little nugget in and of itself makes me question this entire episode.
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As much as I hope Trump is held accountable for January 6th, let’s hope he did not treat highly sensitive information re nuclear weapons, as if they were baseball cards from a shoebox. Such information should never have left the White House.
If it did, it is also concerning why it took 18+ months for the US Government to recover the information. Wouldn’t someone have known sooner that Trump had signed some log when he first obtained the documents? Did they keep such security logs in the Trump Administration?
Classified information has to be kept in an approved storage container, and Top Secret information requires two person integrity, so two people have to open a safe and document the opening and closing. Inventory is done every time a safe is opened and closed, and anything removed is noted. This is not based on someone's administration, unless an administration completely changes the record keeping process, which would require publication of the new directives. I can tell you that has not happened. Combinations are required to be changed every time personnel change so that people who no longer require access do not have the combination. This is also recorded. All of the above is the same for a SCIF that is opened or closed, and those usually have safes in them as well. All of the documentation must be maintained/kept for a set period of time so that audits can be done. Programs are audited routinely to make sure that things are kept running properly.
Is it always perfect? No, people are people, and people make mistakes. But mistakes are usually noted and corrected rather quickly when it comes to things like this.
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