As someone who worked in the defense industry their entire career, I recognize that the taking of documents marked “secret” and “top secret” by former President Trump to his personal residence is at best a severe violation of the protocol for handling such documents and at worst a criminal offense.

The disclosure of any information at these classification levels to our country’s adversaries, especially defense-related material, borders on treason.

Every person with a classified clearance is expected to turn over all classified documents to an authorized security person at their workplace upon the termination of their job. I could not leave my last job, before I retired, without having fully accounted for all secure documents that were listed as being in my possession. Failure to do so would have likely meant that I would never be granted a classified clearance again.

The cavalier attitude displayed by former President Trump with regard to the handling of documents classified at these levels should, in and of itself, be a disqualifying event to ever hold any political office where such materials are routinely handled. If Republicans are still serious about being the party of a strong national defense, I hope they would see that a nomination of Donald J. Trump by their party for president in 2024 would be a rank obscenity.

Samuel Rosenthal
Portland