Biden forms task force to avoid mishandling of classified documents during presidential transitions

President Joe Biden launches task force to address mishandling of classified information during presidential transitions.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday launched a task force aimed at addressing the "systemic" problem of mishandling classified information during presidential transitions, days after a Justice Department special counsel's sharply critical report said he had done just that.

The Presidential Records Transition Task Force will study past transitions to determine best practices for safeguarding classified information from an outgoing administration, the White House said.

It will also assess the need for changes to existing policies and procedures to prevent the removal of sensitive information that by law should be kept with the National Archives and Records Administration.

The report from special counsel Robert Hur listed dozens of sensitive documents found at Mr. Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former Washington office. The papers were marked as classified or later assessed to contain classified information.

The majority of the documents, Mr. Hur's report stated, appeared to have been mistakenly removed from government offices, though he also detailed some items that Mr. Biden appeared to knowingly retain. He concluded that criminal charges were not warranted in the matter.

"I take responsibility for not having seen exactly what my staff was doing," Mr. Biden said last week after Hur's report was released. He added that "things that appeared in my garage, things that came out of my home, things that were moved were moved not by me but my staff".

Mr. Biden’s aides first discovered some of the documents as they cleared out the offices of the Penn-Biden Center in Washington in 2022, and more were discovered during subsequent searches by Mr. Biden’s lawyers and the FBI.