In Transition

There are a lot of things that have to happen in a presidential transition, of course, but here’s one you might not have thought of. Apparently, federal officials have to be told that they can’t take classified information home with them when they leave.

In this memo to senior agency officials, William J. Bosanko, director of the Information Security Oversight Office, lays out the rules for departing administration officials who have had access to classified information.

The bottom line: “Classified information is not personal property and may not be removed from the Government’s control by any departing official or employee.”

And don’t go blurting things out that you just happened to remember, either. The termination briefings for these officials “should remind departing personnel that the responsibility to protect classified information, including information stored in one’s memory, does not end with an individual’s departure from Government service,” according to the memo. “A person who no longer has a security clearance is still subject to criminal and civil sanctions for the unauthorized disclosure of classified information accessed while he or she was cleared.”

It may be one of the only times in life where memory loss can be a good thing.

— David Nather