How The Government Tracks Classified Documents—And Why It's An Imperfect System
How The Government Tracks Classified Documents—And Why It's An Imperfect System
By one estimate, some 50 million government documents are classified every year. Tetra Images/Getty Images/Tetra images RF hide caption
By one estimate, some 50 million government documents are classified every year.
Tetra Images/Getty Images/Tetra images RFThe Justice Department is investigating the mishandling of classified documents linked to President Biden and to his predecessor, former President Trump. Both cases raise questions about how classified information should be handled.
NPR's Greg Myre explains how classified material is handled at the White House, and how that compares to other government agencies.
And we speak to Yale law professor and former special counsel at the Pentagon Oona Hathaway, about the issue of "overclassification" of documents.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Michael Levitt and Kai McNamee. It was edited by Ashley Brown and William Troop. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.