O'NEILL PAPERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLASSIFIED

MSNBC ^ | 3/21/04

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

...Which would mean that we depend on the wisdom and judgment of the official who receives the should've-been-classified documents.

Attributes of which O'Neill possesses zilch.

[TankerKC]

I disagree. Whoever handed out mismarked classified should be strung up.

[GraniteStateConservative]

This is how governments operate-- uniformly badly. It's like blaming the birds for singing.

[Hank Rearden]

So, will there be any accountability? Will any government parasite be fired?

As always . . . . . no.

[Mo1]

I disagree. Whoever handed out mismarked classified should be strung up.

Has it been reported who this person was?

I'd be most interesting to hear who it was and who they worked for

[DoctorMichael]

Has the Bush Administration gotten the papers back yet?

If not, have they even requested to get them back yet?

Have they authorized, in the interest of NATIONAL SECURITY, the raiding and search of the O'Neil residence to get back the documents?

Has O'Neil been questioned by the appropriate government agency like Justice Dept. or the FBI?

Why hasn't he been arrested?

[Moonman62]

I disagree. Whoever handed out mismarked classified should be strung up.

I guess it's part of the "new tone in Washington." Government officials are allowed to skate while those in the private sector take all the blame for what's wrong with the world.

[Gypssy]

So much for bi-partisianship. When Bush was a newbie in the Whitehouse, he was a bit naive that he could keep some of the Clinton Criminal Crew onboard. I hope he learned from this and I am sure he has.

[drjimmy]

Why hasn't he been arrested?

Because, as it says in the article, he didn't break any laws. And apparently neither did the person who mistakenly released the documents to O'Neil. Seems wrong that doing such is not against the law, but if it ain't illegal, you can't arrest them.

[Eva]

I agree, the bureaucrat who distributed the documents should be held responsible.

[Eva]

I have thought all along that the bureaucrat was maybe working with the author and that O'Neil was just a willing dupe. It may have gone something like this:

party hack to bureaucrat: Do you have any documents from the treasury dept that we could use against Bush?

Bureaucrat: Gee, I don't know, most of those materials would be classified. Maybe I could pass them to O'neil and he would pass them to you along with his biographical information.

[XHogPilot]

"...Which would mean that we depend on the wisdom and judgment of the official who receives the should've-been-classified documents. Attributes of which O'Neill possesses zilch."
"I disagree. Whoever handed out mismarked classified should be strung up."

I'll throw my hat in with R_on_the_L_Coast. Government documents do not generate themselves, nor do they classify themselves. Source, content, method, and conclusions all impact on classification of information. The (former) Sec Treasury was an "original classifying authority". Whether a doc was classified or not, it was his responsibility to recognize documents which required classification, and so declare. Sec. O'Neill's inability to recognize 140 documents as requiring classification reflects directly on his exceptionally poor judgment and credibility.

[maica]

O'Neil said he never read them. They were on a few CDs which he handed straight to the writer of his book.

[Your Nightmare]

Do you really think O'Neill reviewed 19,000 documents before he handed them over to the writer? Do you really think he should have?

[TankerKC]

Whether a doc was classified or not, it was his responsibility to recognize documents which required classification, and so declare.

Impossible. I recently was advised that an Air Force Manual that we had on our network had classified info in it. We were ordered to secure the file and go through the procedures to "cleanse" the system. I WAS NOT responsible for the document. Nor were the over 1000 people who had an copy of it. Those that created the document and labeled it “FOUO” were. As a former squadron security manager and safe custodian, I can tell you that it nearly always works that way.

[Libertina]

ONeill knew they were sensitive but put his personal interests above the citizens of this country. NOT a brave or responsible decision.

[XHogPilot]

Whether a doc was classified or not, it was his responsibility to recognize documents which required classification, and so declare.
Impossible. < snip...>Those that created the document and (mis)labeled it “FOUO” were (responsible).

We may be in agreement. I think I weigh much more responsibility on a man who once held the office of Sec Treasury however. Numerous other supporting issues aside, O'Neill was the "Originating Authority", responsible for classification and declassification of all information within his Department. In particular his "working papers", the improperly classified documents in question related to O'Neill's administration; white papers, memos, "working papers", etc. He was either the originator, or original addressee of most. For whatever reason; carelessness, stupidity, incompetence, or selfservice, O'Neill's failure to recognize classified information within his own papers demonstrates an absolute failure in judgement as Secretary of the Treasury.

[XHogPilot]

Do you really think O'Neill reviewed 19,000 documents before he handed them over to the writer? Do you really think he should have?

I'll put it this way. If upon my USAF retirement my former administrative personnel gave me a CD of all the documents I had a hand in creating during my time as a constitutionally appointed Officer of the US government, I'd shred it right in front of him and a few other witnesses. That said, executive officers are provided extraordinary privilege to documents related to their administration. Presidential libraries contain untold classified documents. However, those documents are (hopefully) not handled in a flippant manner. They are subject to review and redaction prior to public release. In other words:

Do you really think O'Neill reviewed 19,000 documents before he handed them over to the writer?
Apparently not. But he could have paid an authorized individual to do it. Historically, that is how other's have handled their papers.
Do you really think he should have?
YES.

[FreeReign]

The new report found that 140 of those documents had not been marked classified even though they contained national security or sensitive but unclassified information.

Treasury launched an investigation into the documents in January after CBS’s “60 Minutes” showed a document marked “secret” during an interview in which O’Neill promoted the new book...

The two above sentences from the article contradict each other. The first sentence says that the 140 documents were not marked classified. The second sentence says that at least one document *was* marked secret.

Or, is the Treasury inspector general and AP playing misleading word games.