The improper sharing of sensitive documents shows significant security lapses within the U.S. administration, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Sunday.
According to internal records reviewed by The Washington Post, employees at the General Services Administration (GSA) shared sensitive documents, including potentially classified floor plans of the White House, with the entire staff of the authority, marking the latest instance of poor handling of sensitive documents of the U.S. administrations.
The records showed that the employees accidentally shared a Google Drive folder containing sensitive documents with all 11,200 members of staff at the GSA, which is responsible for managing federal buildings.
The report said that the incident was the subject of an internal cybersecurity investigation that began last week.
The Post reported that documents were being shared on the Google Drive from 2021 until earlier this month.
In March 2021, a GSA employee inadvertently shared with the entire staff of the administration a "safety environment management survey" for the White House East Wing, and later in December that year, the same employee shared a similar report of the White House West Wing, as well as a "design build" for blast doors to be installed at the White House Visitor Center, The Washington Post report said.
According to the report, since Trump's second term, GSA employees have also shared several other documents, including one containing the bank account information of a government supplier.
Internal records did not specify whether the floor plans of the White House East and West Wings, blast door information, or bank account details were classified, although nine of the 15 mistakenly shared documents were deemed sensitive information that, according to U.S. government regulations, required protection, said the report.
The White House and the GSA have not yet responded to the Washington Post report.
Report unveils latest case of poor handling of sensitive documents by U.S. administration
