Democrat warns Congress doesn't 'totally understand' how to handle classified documents: 'Tip of the iceberg'

A House Democrat is sounding the alarm on Washington's handling of classified material, calling for an "overhaul" of procedures on how sensitive documents are accessed.

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., shed light on Congress' shortcomings on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday as the Biden White House grapples with the president's mishandling of classified materials from his vice presidency.

"I think what's important for us all to know is that this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of all of these conversations, whether it's the executive branch or the legislative branch and the way that we handle classified materials," she said.

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Houlahan, a U.S. Air Force veteran, revealed she finds the processes and procedures "more loose than they should be" compared to military policy.

"It's not just a presidential issue. I believe we also in the House and the Senate need to be more thoughtful about how we handle classified materials and information. And I believe we ought to have the same kind of background checks and training that we do when we're in the military," she said.

"This is something that I think that we in the Congress don't totally understand, frankly, because I don't think we have adequate training and understanding of the sensitivity of these documents."

Houlahan went on to share her solutions for reforming access and management of classified materials.

"Cultural training… during our onboarding as we come in as freshmen, we have no training right now at this point in time on how to manage classified information. We are literally signed into our clearances – something that took me more than a year to obtain when I was a young lieutenant – [this] is something that is instantly granted to us. And so I think there needs to be more thought process put to that." 

In a Fox News op-ed, Houlahan said she believes lawmakers are "extremely trustworthy" but the way in which they access and manage information needs to be "reformed quickly."

"Our hard work, patriotism, earnestness and ‘trustworthiness’ are no excuse for bad policy and shoddy guardrails," she wrote.

"This conversation is long overdue, and change must happen now. These recent security breaches are only the stories we know of, and we only know of them for the political wins both parties seemingly score by their breathless exposure of these delicious deviations. This is not a Red issue or a Blue issue, this is an American national security issue."

Former CA solar firm executive sentenced in $1 billion fraud scheme

A former executive of a California solar power company was sentenced Tuesday to 6 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $620 million in restitution for his role in a $1 billion fraud scheme, federal prosecutors said.

Ryan Guidry, 45, of Pleasant Hill pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy and money laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Guidry was a one-time vice president of operations for DC Solar, based in Benicia in the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 2011 and 2018, the company marketed mobile solar generator units. The firm touted the trailer-mounted units as being able to provide emergency power for cellphone companies or lighting at sporting and other events.

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But executives started telling investors they could benefit from federal tax credits by buying the generators and leasing them back to DC Solar, which would then provide them to other companies for their use, prosecutors said.

In reality, DC Solar sold more generators than it made, used phony financial statements and lease contracts to conceal the fraud and in a classic Ponzi scheme repaid early investors with money from later ones, prosecutors said.

Some 9,000 of the approximately 17,000 generators that DC Solar claimed to have made didn't exist, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Among those suckered by the business were Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

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DC Solar founder Jeff Carpoff was sentenced in 2021 to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

In 2021 and 2022 four other people, including Carpoff's wife Paulette Carpoff, were sentenced to prison in connection with the fraud while Ronald J. Roach of Walnut Creek could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in March, prosecutors said.

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