The discovery of 11 sets of sensitive papers from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI has prompted a slew of concerns regarding presidential records. One of those queries is why, in this day and age of digital everything, the United States government still relies so much on paper in the first place.
According to national security lawyer Bradley Moss, most of the classified bureaucracy remains a paper world owing, in part, to security weaknesses associated with ordinary devices.
Of course, classified databases and email accounts that fulfill the federal government’s cybersecurity criteria exist, but they often need sitting at a computer and seeing the material on a screen. Paper is much simpler to work with in a meeting.
The President’s Daily Brief — a thorough and highly secret written account of U.S. intelligence — was printed out on real paper every day until 2012, when it started to be provided through iPads in the Oval Office that former President Obama and his inner circle could swipe through.
Trump, a well known technophobe with a limited attention span who preferred to be briefed orally on intelligence matters, altered all of that.
“On most days, Trump’s PDB comprised three one-page items describing new developments abroad, plus brief updates of ongoing crises in the Middle East,” according to an account published by the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence.
Despite his overall opposition to studying intelligence, Trump is said to have tried to keep a few of the more intriguing materials he was particularly interested in.
“Often the president would say [to intelligence briefers], ‘Well, can I keep this?’ And in my experience, the intelligence briefers most often would say, ‘Well, sir, we’d prefer to take that back.’ But sometimes they forgot,” former national security adviser John Bolton briefed CBS News.
Former acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that narrative, telling CNN: “From time to time, the president would say ‘Can I keep this?'”
The New York Times reported that when the National Archives wanted to reclaim documents that he had taken, Trump resisted, telling advisers: “It’s not theirs, it’s mine.”
The tumultuous waning days of Trump’s presidency, when he was distracted by the fallout from Jan. 6 and the prospect of a second impeachment, were the apex for a president who had long eschewed procedures for archiving documents.
“When the rushed packing of the West Wing occurred after Jan. 6, these documents were no doubt still sitting around the residence,” Moss said.
Over the last six years, former President Trump has faced unprecedented levels of legal scrutiny, fighting off investigations that have implicated several of his senior advisers and associates. However, despite this, his demise might eventually be attributed to the smallest of issues—an old habit—a safety net that he refused to adopt like his predecessors.
He might get caught up like torn pieces of classified paper too big to go down in the toilet.