It’s hard not to take a parting gift with you when you leave service. For some, it might be a stapler. For others, a coveted photo. For the truly bold, maybe it’s some laptop equipment or office accessories. For those with access to classified information and interested in prison time, maybe it’s a few documents with classification markings.
In the course of a search warrant exercised at the home of Jeremy Brown following his alleged participation in the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, law enforcement discovered four classified documents from Brown’s time in the Special Forces. The Tampa Bay Times reports the four documents as a threat frequency report, an incident report related to an IED, the “Spider Device Testing Procedures and Results,” and a fragmentary order. The documents led to more charges for Brown, this time for unlawfully retaining the sensitive documents.
Retaining Classified Documents
During his military service Brown held a Secret security clearance, the Times notes, and each of the documents found in his possession were marked at the Secret level. The Secret designation indicates items that could cause ‘serious damage’ to national security if released. Brown will be arraigned on the new charges later this week.
Without the search warrant related to the Capitol Hill riots, the classified documents would likely have remain unnoticed. Whether old fragos and threat reports from years past would damage national security today is one thing; the issue of walking off with and then retaining those documents despite their classification markers is another.
You don’t Declassify Your Old Papers
It goes without saying – but just because an event has passed, because you’re no longer cleared, or because you realize you accidentally walked off with it – none of those things preclude you from your responsibility to protect classified information. If it has a classification marker, you had best treat it accordingly.
Brown faces a number of issues over the coming months – the retention of classified documents is just one layer in a series of charges the government is making as it seeks to keep Brown behind bars. Following the new charges, Brown announced he was planning to dismiss his defense attorneys and represent himself.
