How to Handle a "Top Secret" Document

Another all-consuming political issue has been given to America at the start of 2023. It is of course the mishandling of “classified” government documents by President Biden from his days as Vice President. The problem stem from the same conditions that were related to the discovery of classified government documents found at ex-President Trump’s properties. That problem, it is that neither party should have had classified document at non-government, non-secured locations. Now there are lots of facts that are yet to be determined, disclosed, or decided about each of these individuals’ actions; but they all germinated from the seeds of how classified government documents were handled.

Now, because these events involve politicians and political parties the rationality and intelligence being applied is subject to highly dubious intellects. Each situation is being viewed and projected through the normal distorting lenses of politics which renders them being corrupted by the mouths of politicians. To complicate the situation, the public is dependent upon the news media to obtain any semblance of substantive information. Partly this is due to the news media not knowing how to assess and question the information that they receive from politicians and their sources. I am not referring to the news media not questioning the sources, but rather not knowing how to ask those sources informative questions regarding details about the events. Another part of the news media not being able to provide sound information is that the politicians, spokesperson, and ‘experts’ that are providing information don’t provide reliable or unbiased information.

You can see some of the distortions playing out when the statements made by the same individuals made about the Trump events and the Biden events are shown side-by-side. It as if the individuals, especially the politicians, don’t understand the information technologies that they use and actually depend upon to in their jobs. This inconsistency (possible biased vision) in understanding an issue and applying reasoning and judgement to the facts creates an opportunity for an intelligence test.

The test is focused on what principles and values should be applied to assessing and determining how competently each side (Trump or Biden) has been in reacting to the violation of classified document handling. The test isn’t about was there a violation of the law, regulations, or processes regarding classified documents; that is considered an a priori fact in both cases. If you don’t agree with this premise, then you may be unable to gain any perspective from taking the test. This would just put you in a group that has plenty of others who have blinded themselves by staring into an ideological flood light for too long.

The test questions are oriented toward how each side (Trump or Biden) has reacted in their own particular instances of mishandling classified documents on a comparative basis. On each question there are five answer choices that quantify which side reacted. These choices are:

A. Much Better

B. Better

C. Similarly

D. Worse

E. Much Worse

To answer the following questions, pick whichever person you want to use as the individual that you are comparing to the other. Use the same individual for all the questions. For example, you can pick “Trump” to compare to “Biden”, and all questions would be in the form: “How does Trump compare to Biden on [the dimension that the question is asking about]?

Let the test begin.

Question 1: On a legal basis how would you compare how each side has responded?

Question 2: In terms of a well thought-out strategy and approach, how would you compare how each side has responded? [A dimension of Intelligence]

Question 3: Given the issue of “classified documents”, how responsibly has each side acted subsequent to the identification of the documents being discovered? [Principles of Responsibility]

Question 4: In responding to the discovery of the documents, how would you compare the ‘patriotic’ principles that each side has demonstrated? [Patriotic principles]

Question 5: How well has each side managed the processes of returning the documents and informing the public and media? [Issue Management]

You probably want to know what the answers are. This is particularly difficult here because some many are, let's say viewing things through different glasses. The best way to provide the answers, especially considering that things are still in flux, is to answer based upon principles, reasoning, and values. The trick is that the same principles, the same reasoning, and the same values must apply equitably to each case.

Answer to Question 1: The legal issue(s) are either the same or one side has more risks and issues based upon how they have responded. If your jeopardies and risks have increased, you have to question your legal responses.

Answer to Question 2: It’s difficult to completely assess how each sides’ strategies and tactics will play out since both are active processes and investigations. Those individual outcomes will thus have some import on the comparison. However, if your risks have increased that is not a favorable direction to be moving in if it wasn’t part of your strategy.

Answer to Question 3: As these documents deal with information that could expose sensitive US information and resources, it is important to act with the best interests of the nation in mind. The responsible action is to protect those interests first and foremost. This is actually the premise of our laws concerning the protection and management of “classified” documents.

Answer to Question 4: In general, this relates to how the actions of one side compares to who’s interests are being responded to, the individual’s or the nation’s. I presume that it is obvious what actions would be in the nation’s best interests and it is not in any manner or fashion based upon who was in possession of the documents in question.

Answer to Question 5: This is pretty simple. In reacting to events around the recovery and return of classified documents, which side is providing accurate and responsive information about the documents; the identification, search, and location of documents; returning the documents to the government; and providing the public with accurate information regarding these activities while protecting the ‘classified’ information in the documents.

Now both you and I know that different people are going to come up with completely different assessments of these questions and “who” has done better or not. That is just be to expected in today’s hyper-partisan America. This self-categorization into different camps doesn’t speak favorably to how well America would do in assessing our collective intelligence. But that isn’t the point anyway. We already know that the nation is divided into those on the left, those on the right, and the intelligent. This is why the news media should be doing a much better job in presenting comparative assessments of the two investigations and cases. This comparison should extend to the nation’s politicians. Politicians should be called upon to explain what makes one case substantively different from the other, and if they can’t or won’t then they should be noted as just your typical ‘bottom feeding, scum-sucking, political parasite’ draining the life-blood from the nation.