Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., told Newsmax on Thursday there is a systemic problem with the handling of classified documents in Washington and that Congress needs to address it.
"There are people who are always going to run around and say everything that happens in Washington is a five-alarm fire," Cartwright told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "It isn't. But this is obviously something that we have to address, though, because there are potential abuses that that could happen."
Cartwright, a former trial lawyer representing Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, which includes President Joe Biden's birthplace of Scranton, said he sometimes will find a box of documents from a previous trial in his garage. But he said when it comes to classified documents, which were discovered in a garage of Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, from his time as vice president, "It shouldn't happen.
"We ought to get together and figure out a solution," Cartwright said. "And I think the way to do it is to make somebody accountable even after the fact. Some staff are accountable, and I think Congress ought to be able to come up with a solution like that."
Generally, classified information can only be viewed in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, a secure place where sensitive information can be viewed and discussed to prevent outside surveillance or spying.
But SCIFs can be temporary, such as the White House Situation Room, and presidents, vice presidents and other administration officials have viewed classified documents while traveling. A solution could be where an individual cannot leave a SCIF with any classified document.
"That could well be the answer," Cartwright said. "When I go to review classified documents ... they don't give them to me to take home, and I'm I guess I'm grateful for that."
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