why are elected representatives NOT required to handle\destroy classified documents properly??
as we volunteer military personnel and defense company employees are required to do??
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ElwoodBlues · M
I think, more or less, that Congress once set rules saying the security clearance laws don't apply to members of Congress. However, I believe their staffers need clearances to access confidential stuff.
This is about members of Congress who helped foment Jan 6 and why they don't seem to face consequences:
This is about members of Congress who helped foment Jan 6 and why they don't seem to face consequences:
Unlike officials at federal agencies, lawmakers do not have security clearances per se, experts said. Rather, members of Congress are by tradition deemed inherently trustworthy by dint of the offices they hold, although they are subject to punishment under the House ethics code for revealing classified information. The maximum penalty, which would require a two-thirds vote by the House, is expulsion.
Neither their fellow lawmakers nor any president could take that fundamental presumption of trustworthiness away from them.
“If they remain Members, then they retain eligibility for access to classified information,” Steven Aftergood, a leading expert on government secrecy with the Federation of American Scientists, said in an email. “But if they engaged in constitutionally prohibited actions, then they should be expelled from Congress altogether.”
https://rollcall.com/2021/01/12/when-it-comes-to-security-clearances-rules-for-others-dont-apply-to-congress/Neither their fellow lawmakers nor any president could take that fundamental presumption of trustworthiness away from them.
“If they remain Members, then they retain eligibility for access to classified information,” Steven Aftergood, a leading expert on government secrecy with the Federation of American Scientists, said in an email. “But if they engaged in constitutionally prohibited actions, then they should be expelled from Congress altogether.”