A side comment in a news story yesterday appeared to indicate that the U.S. President and Vice-President are, in fact, not required to sign out classified documents as other people with clearance would be, nor is any kind of log kept of which documents they have taken out, not even by coded references.
I am of the opinion that is preposterously sloppy and demonstrates far too much deference to the office and to the individual who holds it. Presidents are as replaceable as a piece of string and we have successfully subbed in politicians who were not otherwise headed for the job -- Presidents Truman and Ford being prime examples. They are not kings or lifetime-tenure strongmen; they're temporary employees and should be treated accordingly. Yes, it's a big, stressful, responsible job -- and in four or eight years, we'll have gulled some other sap into doing it.
The chicken of lousy procedure has come home to roost and I don't think either of the offenders should be given a free pass -- which at present, they are not. If two speeders are caught, one five miles per hour over the limit and the other fifty over, I don't expect them to face the same fine, but they're both going to have to sweat out the traffic stop and they'll likely both get a ticket. --And maybe we should add some curves or speed bumps to that stretch of road.
Thanks for the info. Hunky Husband and I discussed the issue a day or 2 ago and decided it would be too burdensome to have Prez (and, I suppose, by extension the VP) sign hand receipts, but I agree with you that there has to be a better system to take care of security/ traceability needs.
ReplyDeleteEven if POTUS doesn't sign for it...he doesn't personally fetch it from whatever facility it's in. Meaning whoever serves as courier and whichever staffmember recieves it must sign for it and give the reason.
ReplyDeleteOr at least I would assume they would do it.
Am I assuming too much?