As someone who has held a security clearance with the U.S. Federal government and has handled classified material as part of my official duties, I am reasonably confident in stating that the presence of golf shirts in a container holding classified documents is not sufficient to declassify said documents.
I’ve never held security clearance, but I’m reasonably certain that “I was too busy to give you back those classified documents” isn’t a very good defense. In fact, it’s admitting that you had the classified documents and held onto them despite being told to give them back. It’s especially not a good defense given that he had 15 months from the first “give back the documents request” to the FBI raid.
If I ever found myself in possession of classified documents which I wasn’t supposed to have (so, any classified documents) and I was asked to give them back, I’d MAKE time. I’d take time off of work and scour my house from the top to the bottom to make sure I got everything. Then, I’d invite the FBI in to do the same to be sure that I didn’t miss anything.
This would be the biggest priority in my life (absent any live threatening situations) until those classified documents were safely returned. “I was too busy for the past 1.25 years” is not a good defense at all.
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As someone who has held a security clearance with the U.S. Federal government and has handled classified material as part of my official duties, I am reasonably confident in stating that the presence of golf shirts in a container holding classified documents is not sufficient to declassify said documents.
I’ve never held security clearance, but I’m reasonably certain that “I was too busy to give you back those classified documents” isn’t a very good defense. In fact, it’s admitting that you had the classified documents and held onto them despite being told to give them back. It’s especially not a good defense given that he had 15 months from the first “give back the documents request” to the FBI raid.
If I ever found myself in possession of classified documents which I wasn’t supposed to have (so, any classified documents) and I was asked to give them back, I’d MAKE time. I’d take time off of work and scour my house from the top to the bottom to make sure I got everything. Then, I’d invite the FBI in to do the same to be sure that I didn’t miss anything.
This would be the biggest priority in my life (absent any live threatening situations) until those classified documents were safely returned. “I was too busy for the past 1.25 years” is not a good defense at all.