I get so tired of reading stories of legislators and other high-ranking officials mishandling confidential or classified information. The latest comes from Senate Majority Minority Leader Harry Reid (see Michelle Malkin: DIRTY HARRY REID: BLABBERMOUTH). Michelle quotes from the Washington Times:

Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush’s judicial nominees based on “a problem” he said is in the nominee’s “confidential report from the FBI.”

It should be noted that Reid doesn’t even have access to the subject FBI report — only members of the Judiciary Committee.

This follows on the heels of the light sentence recently given to Sandy Berger for taking classified documents from the National Archives. I’m also reminded of the release of Linda Tripp’s security clearance form during the Clinton-Lewinski scandal, a clear violation of the Privacy Act.

If any of us had done things like while on active duty, we’d be looking at our options for civilian life or (at least in the case of what Berger did) the four walls of a cell at Ft. Leavenworth.

I was incredibly A-R about protected information. Heck, I’d even avoid discussing blatantly non-sensitive information on the periphery, just to be safe. To watch people like Reid treat sensitive information in such a cavalier way is infuriating.

This doesn’t even touch on the fact that what he’s done is just plain despicable: attack a judge based on information that the public (and even the judge) doesn’t have access to. Fortunately, the Department of Justice is now looking into it (see Captain Ed: Reid’s Smear Raises Eyebrows At DoJ). I hope he’s forced to step down, though past experience indicates nothing will come of it.

UPDATE: Umm… as Kevin reminds us, Reid is the Minority Leader, not the Majority Leader (thank goodness!).

UPDATE2: I can’t seem to comment on my own post. I’ve written two clever retorts to comments only to have them eaten. Perhaps they’re caught in the ether and will show up later. If not, I’ll make an additional post.

UPDATE3: I figured out how to get my comments posted. Maybe I shouldn’t have called them “clever retorts.” :–)