The Washington Post’s Carrie Johnson gives needed context to yesterday’s news that Alberto Gonzales broke the law by mishandling classified documents. A Justice Dept. Inspector General report finds that in March 2004, when Gonzales was sitll White House counsel, he took notes at a meeting where the administration and Congressional leaders were scrambling to re-authorize the then-secret warrantless wiretapping program.

The White House classified the notes as top-secret, meaning they needed to be locked up in a certain kind of safe. But Gonzales not only didn’t do this, he actually took the notes to his Vienna, Virginia home. Gonzales had a safe at home– but he forgot its combination. As Attorney General, he then put the notes in a Justice Dept. safe that Justice employees could, illegally, access.

Nothing is surprising anymore about Gonzales’s behavior. While he’s not the first person in the world to be careless with classified documents, the other examples Johnson provides don’t equate with Gonzales’s years of disregard. The Justice Dept.– their credibility already called into question– will now have to wear a rueful grin in their next classified document prosecution.-MB

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