Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) on Thursday would ensure that public officials with access to classified information are held accountable for negligence and mishandling information.
The Hold Top Officials Accountable Act, H.R. 5800, would also enhance the penalty for top officials — including members of Congress and officials appointed by presidents — who are found guilty of mishandling classified information.
“Our nation’s leaders should be held to a high standard — it is as simple as that,” Poliquin said. “Like the majority of Americans, I’m very concerned about recent events that have exposed instances of extremely careless mishandling of very sensitive, highly classified information. This type of behavior by any of our nation’s top officials demonstrates to the American public that those serving in high office are not being held accountable for their actions, especially for such blatant carelessness that puts our national security at risk.”
The bill would change existing law so that mishandling classified information would carry a minimum sentence of two years in jail.
“Today, I’m proud to introduce a common sense bill that will revise the law to make sure that top officials — including members of Congress, senators and presidential appointees — will be held accountable if they mishandle classified information by either intentionally or grossly negligently sharing that information,” Poliquin said. “It will also increase the penalty for these serious infractions.”
Under the bill, mishandling of classified information is defined as knowingly disclosing classified information to unauthorized people and gross negligence that could make classified information available to unauthorized people.
“If the American people are entrusting our officials with top secret information, then they should be held accountable to keep that information safe, for the sake of our nation’s security,” Poliquin said. “The American people deserve leaders in Washington that are going to take our national security laws seriously. My change in the law will remind all of us the importance of the responsibilities we assume when we take the oath of office. This is a significant, unique and needed change to our current law.”