comment: >
  
  They already do this with SCI information. This is why the government was pestering Trump for over a year before they had to get the FBI involved to take the documents back. NARA knew Trump had the documents and hadn't returned them.
  The fact that the Biden team found classified documents that NARA didn't know about is very telling. It shows that the documents in question were not at a SCI level of classification. It looks like they were probably briefings that were handled sloppily rather than any deliberate malfeasance.
context: At the highest levels of classification, there are special rooms you have to use and all sorts of special procedures. 
  At lower levels, these might be briefings written specifically for the person who has them, that just happen to include information from a spy or something. So it's very easy for no one to notice classified docs are missing.
  Especially for the President or Vice President, so much is classified that I suspect it's pretty easy for things to get lost in the fray. 
  I don't blame either person for having classified docs in general, the issue is when they are high-level Top Secret and left unsecured, and especially if you refuse to return them. 
  The solution has to be that someone from the archives comes to review every document removed from the White House during a transition of power and signs off before they can leave. That's a lot of work but only every 4-8 years. You have to stop it from happening, ramping up punishments isn't going to do anything. >
  
  It can be a lot less than that. During the Clinton email saga, one of the documents that was labeled classified was a call sheet for the Secretary of State. The classified material was that she was going to call a newly elected African leader to congratulate them. 
  Low level classifications are a joke and are treated as a joke. It’s one of the reasons for Director Comey’s famous “no reasonable prosecutor would ever try to prosecute this”.
  
  But a 2012 email released by the State Department appears to challenge that claim because it carries a classified code known as a “portion marking” - and that marking was on the email when it was sent directly to Clinton’s account.
  The “C” - which means it was marked classified at the confidential level - is in the left-hand-margin and relates to an April 2012 phone call with Malawi's first female president, Joyce Banda, who took power after the death of President Mutharika in 2012.
  "(C)  Purpose of Call: to offer condolences on the passing of President Mukharika and congratulate President Banda on her recent swearing in."
  
  So after that, I’m just not very excited over prosecuting for classified material. It could be someone’s lunch order. They’re not going to tell you. >
  
  It can be even less of a big deal than that. Sometimes publicly known information can be classified. I’m talking about articles in magazines and newspapers. >
  
  My father works for the air force. Someone in his office once got in trouble for forwarding an email using an unsecured emailed address that included a nyt article discussing classified material. Had to retake a classified material training course. Poor bastard. >
  
  We're very specifically told that classified material doesn't suddenly become unclassified just because it was leaked. As someone with a clearance, you're duty-bound not to share it, even if literally everyone in the world already knows about it. >
  
  Oh yeah I'm aware of that. It was more a story to illustrate how easy it is to mishandle classified material. >
  
  I think the issue is (and this could be wrong) is when they are president their homes/offices are secure locations, and so they’re allowed to bring documents with them. It’s when they leave office not all papers are returned, I would assume because there’s so many of them. I’m not sure how the federal government could improve this though, other than having a team of lawyers with security clearances going through the entire personal residence of a president before they leave office, although that feels a tad invasive. >
  
  Biden was vice president, not president >
  
  You get my point though, the Vice Presidents residence is still a secure location >
  
  
  Also doesn't have the ability declassify materials
  
  No one is saying he did, though. The only people pointing out that Biden couldn't declassify documents as Vice President are the ones that are convinced Trump was able to declassify documents with his brain waves. You are doing this by arguing a point that no one is making.
  And considering the quote and source you shared, I have a feeling you think Trump's thoughts were all that was needed for him to declassify the documents. >
  
  They could try not classifying everything under the sun, for starters. Most of it never needed it in the first place. >
  
  Not going to happen. Everything has to have some level of classification so that it's technically illegal to hand it over to the media. >
  
  Imagine a democracy where what the government does is secret >
  
  you mean a republic >
  
  Depends on what's in the documents.
  How many documents?
  Was Biden asked to return them?
  Did Biden purposefully avoid returning them?
  Did Biden lie about returning them?
  
  Comparisons aside, why can such documents be removed from federal facilities at all?
  My university library had textbooks on reserve where you could look at them in the library but not take them out. I envision a kind of viewing room that's monitored with wifi blocked, and you sign your ass away if any sharing of the information therein with anyone lacking clearance can be traced back to you. If librarians can handle this, then the federal government can too.