Every single second, three papers are reclassified as classified in the United States.
180 every single minute.
That's what historian Matthew Connelly of Columbia University found out.
He calls it »over-classification«. You could also say that the USA indulges in a secrecy fetish.
And that for decades.
Up to 3000 government officials have the right to make such a classification.
In every administration.
Every four years again.
"And as soon as something like that is stamped and disappears - in order to be able to read it later, it has to be unstamped, 'de-secret'," explains US correspondent Marc Pitzke in the podcast.
“That means one of those 3,000 or the next 3,000 when the next government comes has to approve it.
It's a crazy problem."
Joe Biden has not yet become a problem for his party, at least not because of the files found.
But that could follow soon.
Because the affairs surrounding the secret documents in Biden's house in Delaware and in his think tank threaten to overshadow the US President's hitherto decent record in public perception.
Even the fact that, unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden is cooperating with the authorities and voluntarily having the locations searched does not change that at all.
more on the subject
More and more US filing scandals: America's absurd cult of secrecyBy Marc Pitzke, New York
'He's not Pablo Picasso': US Republicans target Hunter Biden's art deals
Special prosecutor appointed for found files: Biden's sloppiness becomes a political scandalBy Marc Pitzke, New York
"These two stories are like day and night," says Marc Pitzke.
»But unfortunately it all gets blurred in the public consciousness, because people say: look, two people lied and took secret things with them.«
Biden still has almost two years to consolidate his image and campaign for a second term.
If he doesn't succeed, his party friends will no longer just think about whether the man is a little too old behind the scenes.
At the end of a second term, Joe Biden would be 86. So far, criticism from within his own ranks has sounded as soft as it was voiced by Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin this week.
Joe Biden's "stature," meaning the effect of his appearance, "shrunk" as a result of the affair, he told CNN.
Republican criticism of Donald Trump sounds much tougher.
In front of the cameras, Paul Ryan, former speaker of the House of Representatives, described the ex-president as a 'proven loser', a proven loser after the midterms of 2016 and 2022, as well as the 2020 presidential election, went to the Democrats.
Both gentlemen, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, want to be nominated as candidates for the next elections in 2024.
But who becomes the bigger problem for their own party?
Who can better use the file affairs for his campaign?
And why are even ancient White House dinner menus secret?
Marc Pitzke talks about this in this episode of the SPIEGEL foreign podcast eight billion.
Listen to the current episode here:
