Experts: Secret documents at Trump's resort are a "security nightmare"
The seizure of classified US government documents from former US President Donald Trump's sprawling resort in Mar-a-Lago highlights the former president's persistent national security concerns and his so-called Winter White House, several security experts said.
Trump is the subject of a federal investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to provide information to another country or mishandle or share US defense information with unauthorized persons, according to the indictment.
When he was president, Trump sometimes disclosed information regardless of its sensitivity.
At the beginning of his presidency, he spontaneously provided top-secret information to the Russian foreign minister about a planned operation against ISIS while he was in the Oval Office, US officials said at the time.
But at Mar-a-Lago, whose clubhouse sees members of the elite attend merry weddings and dinners, American intelligence appears particularly vulnerable.
While the Secret Service provided physical security at the venue during Trump's presidency and continues that role to date, it is not responsible for screening these guests.
Mary McCord, a former Justice Department official, said the Justice Department's search warrant raises national security concerns.
"Obviously they thought that getting this material back to a safe space was very important...even just keeping top secret documents in improper storage creates a major threat to national security, especially given Mar-a-Lago, which is frequented by foreign visitors and others who may have connections," she said. with foreign governments and foreign agents.
In a statement on his social media platform, Trump said the records had been "declassified" and placed in a "secure storage".
McCord, however, said she did not see "a reasonable justification for his conscious decision to declassify each individual document prior to his departure."
She added that after his departure from the position, he no longer had the ability to declassify the information.
Monday's seizure by FBI agents of multiple sets of documents and dozens of boxes, including information on US defense affairs and a reference to the "French president", is a frightening scenario for the intelligence community.
"The environment for careful handling of top-secret information is very frightening," said a former US intelligence officer. "It's a nightmare."
The Department of Justice did not provide specific information about how and where the documents and photos were stored, but the resort's general weaknesses are well documented.
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