Kamala Harris has access to regular classified briefings as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede to President-elect Joe Biden has resulted in an unusual national security predicament: how to navigate a presidential transition when the vice president-elect is privy to classified information that she cannot discuss with the future commander-in-chief.
As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has access to regular classified briefings and documents up to the top-secret level, and can request intelligence briefings on specific topics, said David Priess, a former CIA officer and daily intelligence briefer under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
Biden, by contrast, will not be allowed access to classified information or any members of the intelligence community until the General Services Administration officially “ascertains” him as the president-elect — a formality that has traditionally taken place within 24 hours of election day but is being held up by Trump as he continues to challenge the election results.
Biden was given classified briefings as a candidate but those stopped once he became president-elect, and his status as a former vice president and former senator does not afford him access now.
The result is an awkward gap between what Biden and Harris know about the biggest national security threats facing the country, which the Biden White House will need to be prepared to respond to on Day One of the new administration. Harris is also legally prohibited from disclosing any classified information to Biden, leading to situations where she may have to censor herself when discussing sensitive foreign policy and national security issues around the president-elect.
In the unlikely scenario that Harris accidentally revealed something classified that she’d learned as part of a committee briefing, mishandling of classified information is technically punishable under the Espionage Act.
“Until Biden is inaugurated, he has no constitutional right to classified information and none of his conversations with Harris can venture into classified issues until they both finally start receiving classified briefings as part of the transition,” said national security lawyer Brad Moss. “There has never been an Espionage Act case against a sitting Member of Congress but no one wants to poke the 400-pound bear on this one and risk it either.”
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As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Kamala Harris has access to regular top-secret briefings and documents. But until Trump concedes, she can't discuss the intel with President-elect Joe Biden. https://t.co/Oat5hEqZ5e
— POLITICO (@politico) November 19, 2020
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