Security conscious

Ok ok ok so Trump stole top-secret documents and kept them at his resort hotel, big deal. What harm could that possibly do?

The Justice Department’s search warrant raises concerns about national security, said former DOJ official Mary McCord.

“Clearly they thought it was very serious to get these materials back into secured space,” McCord said. “Even just retention of highly classified documents in improper storage – particularly given Mar-a-Lago, the foreign visitors there and others who might have connections with foreign governments and foreign agents – creates a significant national security threat.”

What, you mean a big resort hotel isn’t the most secure place you could possibly stash highly classified documents? Huh. Who knew?

“It’s a nightmarish environment for a careful handling of highly classified information,” said a former U.S. intelligence officer. “It’s just a nightmare.”

It could be worse though. He could have just thrown them out a window.

In a high profile example, Trump huddled in 2017 with Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an outdoor dinner table while guests hovered nearby, listening and taking photos that they later posted on Twitter.

The dinner was disrupted by a North Korean missile test, and guests listened as Trump and Abe figured out what to say in response. After issuing a statement, Trump dropped by a wedding party at the club.

It’s hard not to laugh.

“What we saw was Trump be so lax in security that he was having a sensitive meeting regarding a potential war topic where non-U.S. government personnel could observe and photograph,” said Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specializes in national security cases. “It would have been easy for someone to also have had a device that heard and recorded what Trump was saying as well.”

White House aides did set up a secure room at Mar-a-Lago for sensitive discussions. That was where Trump decided to launch airstrikes against Syria for the use of chemical weapons in April 2017.

Progress!

The decision made, Trump repaired to dinner with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Over a dessert of chocolate cake, Trump informed Xi about the airstrikes.

Oops. Scratch the progress.

John Kelly tried to limit access to Trump at Maralago but he failed because Trump said no.

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