evidence: A range of protections is in place to guard against the disclosure of classified information. Only those government employees and contractors with the requisite security clearance may have access to classified documents, and even then, only if they have a "need to know." Some documents that are classified as Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information might be accessible only to a handful of executive branch officials. Classified documents also must be transmitted through, and stored on, secure systems or facilities. Officials who mishandle classified documents or disclose them without authorization are subject to administrative or even criminal penalties. [...] Moreover, it is important to understand the nature of the president’s constitutional authority in this context. Under Article II, the president is responsible for making judgments about national security harm. If a president determines that protections for classified information can be removed without harming national security or that the public interest in disclosure outweighs any such harm, he has exercised that judgment. If, on the other hand, a president alters a document’s classification status for some other reason — for instance, it would be more convenient for him to work at home than in a secure facility, or he simply failed to apply the required protections — such an action is arguably an abdication of his Article II responsibility rather than an exercise of it.