My Take: Trump and our TOP SECRETs

U.S. government documents with potential to impact National Security (NS) are assigned a classification on how severely it could damage NS if exposed.

CONFIDENTIAL means information could “damage” NS.

SECRET means information could cause “serious damage” to NS.

TOP SECRET means information will cause “exceptionally grave damage” to NS. These documents hold nuclear secrets and information that can be used to reveal our spies and our methods. Two of numerous subsets are:

TOP SECRET SCI means Sensitive Compartmented Information is from intelligence sources.

TOP SECRET SAP means Special Access Program, which takes a higher clearance than just TOP SECRET.

Classified documents are destined for our National Archives and are to be released in 25 years unless they still threaten NS.

Few individuals have access to TOP SECRET documents, some of which are held in an extremely secure location. To get clearance an individual goes through an intensive TOP SECRET investigation of their whole life and must be able to demonstrate loyalty to the United States, … trustworthiness, honesty, … sound judgment, … freedom from … potential for coercion, … willingness and ability to abide by regulations governing … protection of classified information.”

Elected by the people, a president, assumed to be loyal to the U.S., needs no security check. Trump granted clearance for 25 individuals, including his son-in-law, after they failed their security investigations. “Honesty?” Trump wouldn’t pass. Presidents can classify any information, even to protect their image, and declassify any document, except our military and nuclear secrets.

An incoming president decides if his predecessor can retain TOP SECRET clearance. Because of our intelligence community’s and our allies’ concern over Trump’s cavalier handling of state secrets, President Biden did not grant Trump this clearance. Many questions about Trump’s treatment of classified documents remain.

What did the Russians know about Trump that caused them to work for his election? Could Trump be “coerced” into sharing top secrets with them? On May 10, 2017, he showed Russian diplomats a TOP SECRET document we received from Israel about a secret raid on Isis. This disclosure, along with Trump’s other indiscretions, caused the highest-ranking U.S. agent in the Russian government to be recalled because these disclosures could lead to his death. Not only did we lose this asset, but our allies lost their trust in Trump, making them less likely to share information with us.

We have no knowledge of any other secret information that might have been passed on during his five private meetings and 16 private phone calls with Putin.All we know of what transpired is what Trump tells us. None of this information would need to be kept from us. Why the secrecy?

Trump insisted on receiving the names of our spies. The CIA admitted to losing dozens of informants who were killed or missing and is having a difficult time recruiting replacements? It could be simply Russia, North Korea and China at the same time developed better methods of spy detection. But the coincidence is scary.

Trump’s press secretary recalled his placing secret documents in his jacket pocket, ripping documents up, showing them off to impress others, laying them around with visitors present, and taking them overseas.

Trump casually discussed secrets in the presence of visitors, including foreigners at Mar-a-Lago? He took and kept unsecured classified documents, including some labeled “TOP SECRET SCI,” and one on nuclear weapons. Trump golfed with Inna Yashchyshyn, who built relations with Trump and other U.S. politicians by falsely posing as wealthy Anna de Rothschild to gain access to Mar-a-Lago. She is being investigated as a possible spy. The Justice Department had to resort to a search warrant to retrieve unsecured TOP SECRET documents. Many documents known to exist are still missing.

Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, years ago warned us about his extreme narcissist personality. Trump considers his need for aggrandizement trumps NS and our democratic traditions. Trump can release TOP SECRETS at any time damaging our NS. Trump observers are concluding this knowledge may be used as blackmail to keep him out of jail. It’s sad, but our former president, regardless of any document in his possession, cannot be trusted and is a continuing threat to our NS.

On Jan. 6 Trump attempted to undo our 220-year tradition of peaceful transfer of power. Knowing what we do about the man’s narcissistic personality, some wonder if he is a “Manchurian Candidate,” someone willing to sell out his country for his ego’s personal needs.Is a pending narcissistic-collapse in response to the Department of Justice’s and the House Jan. 6 Committee’s closing in his crimes about to engulf the United States?Will Trump attempt to take the country down with him by calling on his supporters to again march on Washington, D.C., start riots, shoot Democrats, or begin a civil war?

— Don Bergman is a resident of Park Township.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: Trump and our TOP SECRETs