The FBI’s approach to classified documents is stunning: ” Do as we say, not as we do.” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz says the FBI has been mishandling classified documents for over a decade. 

In a recent audit, Horowitz discovered that the FBI wasn’t managing classified information properly. This audit was part of checking how the FBI destroys electronics that contain classified or “sensitive-but-unclassified” information. 

The audit showed that while the FBI labels computers containing “sensitive” information, it doesn’t label the hard drives removed from those computers. The audit also found that the FBI does not track thumb and disk drives with different levels of classified information. 

The audit revealed that it wouldn’t matter anyway. The drives often end up in an insecure warehouse. When Horowitz and his team visited an FBI facility last October, they found untracked hard drives and other storage devices in a large, open box.  

A staff member told them the loose media stayed unsecured for days or weeks because they only wrapped the pallets and moved them to the shelves when the box was full.  

During the visit last October, Horowitz said his team also found a container from January 2022 labeled “non-accountable.” 

He pointed out that the wrapping was ripped, and the boxes inside were open. The hard drives inside were labeled “Secret.” 

The DOJ-IG reported that at least 395 people could access the FBI’s unsecured facility. This includes 28 task force officers and 63 contractors from 17 different companies. 

After the auditor’s team noticed the box, the FBI’s Asset Management Unit secured it with extra shrink wrap. However, the facility’s supervisor told Horowitz they wouldn’t know if someone took hard drives from the pallets because these items aren’t counted or tracked. 

Nothing stops FBI employees, non-FBI personnel, and contractors from other facility areas from accessing these pallets of materials. Even though there is a door to the Media Destruction Team’s work area, the FBI doesn’t close it. 

Horowitz also said that one of the facility’s main surveillance cameras wasn’t working. The FBI had told Horowitz in December that they were installing a new camera, but it still wasn’t set up when the DOJ-IG checked again in February. 

FBI whistleblower Greg Roman told Headline USA that the label “Classified National Security Information” suggests that some of the FBI’s unsecured boxes might have contained Top-Secret information. 

Horowitz didn’t share details about the facility’s location because of its lack of security, but Roman indicated it was in Chevy Chase, MD. Roman suggested that FBI offices from all over the country might have been sending this stuff to this facility for destruction, which could explain why none of it was labeled. 

Horowitz said his audit is still in progress, but he wanted to warn the FBI about problems so they can fix them. He gave the FBI suggestions for improving their security and disposal procedures. One suggestion was to put the boxes of untracked hard drives inside secure cages at the warehouse. 

A secure open storage area is a reinforced space where classified materials can be safely stored. Horowitz said his team discovered that the facility was temporarily approved as a secure open storage area in 2015, but that approval expired in March 2016.  

After Horowitz’s observations, the FBI visited the site in November 2023 to determine whether the necessary security improvements from a 2015 inspection had been made. The FBI gave the facility its final approval in January 2024. 

The FBI said the delay in getting final approval was just a paperwork mistake. They claim the improvements were made, but they couldn’t show when those improvements were completed. 

The Trump classified documents case started when former President Donald Trump was found to have taken secret documents with him when he left the White House in 2021. These documents were supposed to be kept secure. 

In 2022, the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and found some classified papers. Trump was charged with breaking laws about handling classified information. Recently, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case.  

Now, it seems the documents were more secure in Trump’s locked bedrooms than in FBI storage facilities.