Words Can Kill

The early morning search of former president Trump’s Florida residence by the FBI for classified documents culminated an investigative process that started well over a year ago. In the spring of 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration contacted Trump’s team that certain high-profile documents were missing from Trump’s presidency and asked for them to be returned. After repeated requests and not until January 17, 2022 Mr. Trump turned over 15 boxes of material to the control of an Archives contractor for return. “But as the Archives officials sifted through the recovered documents, they began to suspect some records were still missing. They also realized some of the returned material was clearly classified, including highly sensitive signals intelligence- intercepted electronic communications such as emails and phone calls of foreign leaders.” By February, Archives officials had formally referred the matter to the Justice Department. In early June, a small team of federal investigators, headed by the chief of the division of the Justice department that leads investigations into leaks of government secrets, met with Trump’s lawyers in Florida. At some point after this meeting the Justice Department’s suspicion was aroused that additional classified documents remained in Trump’s control and the appropriate legal actions were authorized by the U.S. Attorney General and the appropriate judicial authority culminating in the raid pictured above. (Note: quoted reference from “Trump’s secrets: How a records dispute escalated to an FBI raid” by J. Dawsey, R. Helderman, J. Alemany, & D. Barrett; Washington Post, P. A1, Sunday, August 14, 2022)

Rhetoric like that pictured above has frequently occurred on various social media platforms for some time now, so much so that one tends to grow immune to it. But that is not the case for many Americans who post this type of communication and read it as well. This kind of rhetoric appears on many forums and what is most disconcerting is that it comes from the highest levels of our government. The picture above captures violent threats of both a general and a specific nature in response to the FBI’s raid on Mr. Trump’s residence. A recent seizure of Representative Scott Perry’s cell phone by the FBI (as part of the FBI’s investigation into the January 6th Capitol Riots) resulted in the following comments from some of his colleagues. “The FBI has gone rogue and is doing the dirty work of a communist regime” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga). “This is America, and these Gestapo tactics are not welcome. There will be a reckoning.” said Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Co.). “The FBI, and the Regime they take marching orders from, are the enemy of the American People. They must be stopped.” said Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az). All these Representatives know that the Attorney General who heads the Department of Justice (and the FBI) does not work for President Biden. They are an Executive Agency empowered to independently operate to enforce the Constitution and the laws established by Congress and not under the direction of the President. This is just like Attorney General Barr did not work for President Trump although clearly Mr. Trump was confused over that issue at times. The continued reference to the word “regime” by the above Representatives is implying an autocratic ruler (like Russia and others) and is an insult to the American people who elect their leaders including those Representatives who are making these comments. They also know (or should know) that this type of rhetoric emboldens people on the fringes of civil society to act as did Ricky Shiffer, the identified gunman recently killed during his FBI attack in Cincinnati. (Note quoted reference: “They’ve declared war!: Republicans freak out after FBI seizes Scott Perry’s cellphone” by Raw Story, August 13, 2022.”)

Shiffer, a Navy veteran who tried to breach the FBI’s field office in Cincinatti posted on twitter “I was there” in reply to a photograph showing rioters scaling the Capitol’s walls on January 6, 2021. Shiffer once handled highly classified material years ago while he was posted on an attack submarine but had been on the bureau’s radar for months for possible extremist behavior. Shiffer, like dozens of participants in the January 6th Capitol riots who have been prosecuted and convicted for federal crimes committed that day have been “radicalized” and “weaponized” by the legislators and our former president who advocate violent rhetoric and disregard the norms designed to protect our government agencies and the critical information that is classified.

One of the arguments offered with regard to the classified documents found in Mr. Trump’s residence is that Mr. Trump declassified the material that was found. When it comes to the issue of the handling of classified information, particularly information classified “Top Secret (Sensitive Compartmented Information), or TS (SCI), I know something about that subject. For several years I supervised a team of five people who managed Army TS(SCI) technical programs. We worked in a locked and secure vault with limited access and no windows. All the program materials were kept in an inner vault that had managed access by the member of the team called the security manager. Every document was secured at all times, clearly identified as to its TS(SCI) nature, stamped accordingly and required verified authorization to access it. On occasion we needed to carry secure documents to the Pentagon and did so with a keyed double-locked pouch handcuffed to our wrist. The declassification process for any of this material was involved and required verification/notification of the originating government agency. For example, if someone in the Executive Branch (White House) or Legislative Branch (Congress) declassified any of the information we managed it would require a validation of my agency (Army) as being the initiating agency of the declassification. These are the checks and balances that safeguard reckless mismanagement of such sensitive information. To ignore these protocols demonstrates an utter disregard for the safety of the information that directly impacts the security of our nation. Cavalier management of such classified information could compromise some technology advantage the U.S. may hold over an adversary that took many years and millions of taxpayer’s dollars to develop. Or worse case, such cavalier management could put at risk some American service person on a classified operational assignment. Disregard of this critical information is about as anti-American behavior as there is and is the reason why it is usually categorized as espionage.

My wife and I caught this Vatican Priest exiting this confessional evidently going off duty from his time of hearing confessions in St. Peter’s Basilica. We have all heard the expression “confession is good for the soul” but it wasn’t until recently that I learned that most believe that saying comes from an old Scottish proverb but is hard to prove. Scripture clearly states the advantages of confession and is clearly stated in “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1:9) More importantly to the subject of this writing is the value scripture assigns to all spoken words. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21) I believe what the proverb is saying is that if we talk about death, or things that cause death, there is a good chance we will live that experience. Of course, we all will experience death at some time, but the point is if we speak life with our words, we will experience life in the fullest. If we speak of death, we limit our experience of life with a tendency towards death. It is no accident that mass shooters talk about killing before entering an episode of shooting often resulting in their own death. No question that Ricky Shiffer followed that same pattern as shown above. But what about elected officials that say things like “there will be a reckoning” or “they must be stopped” when referring to other government authorities or elected officials? Is that so bad? Scripture has a lot to say about what we say to each other. “And the tongue is a little is a fire, a world of iniquity (wickedness). The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.”(James 3:6) Pretty strong words indicating that we have a great ability to influence other behaviors by what we say. Before the previous quoted verse, the author James compares our tongues to a ship’s rudder or a horse’s bit, being a small object but directing our entire life’s experience. Scripture clearly indicates the direct effect we have on ourselves and on others by what we say. We have the ability to defile ourselves and incite actions by others that is similar to the physical destructiveness that fire does to nature and to the spiritual implications of releasing the fire of hell. It is no accident when a President tells a crowd to “fight like hell” that is exactly what they do. It is no coincidence when elected officials tell their constituents that the FBI must be stopped those constituents then attack the FBI. There is no confusion in this occurrence that is repeated in the landscape of our democracy with more and more frequency. The only thing confusing is why the people of faith are not crying out to our elected officials and our former president that this death cycle must stop! There are only two reasons that I can think of as to why people of faith are silent. Either we are unfamiliar with these scriptural principals, or we don’t believe them. Either way death wins over life. Choose life with me. As a people of faith we should require better behavior from our elected officials because words can kill. We are witnessing it every day in our nation.