Archives ask past administrations to look for classified docs

​The National Archives and Records Administration has requested past presidents and vice presidents scour their records for classified documents after sensitive material was found in recent months at the homes of President Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, according to a report. 

​NARA sent letters to representatives of presidential administrations going back to Ronald Reagan, CNN reported Thursday. ​

The missives notified the administrations, which are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978, to ensure that their personal records do not “inadvertently” contain any classified documents that should have been handed over to the Archives. 

“The responsibility to comply with the PRA does not diminish after the end of an administration,” the letter states​, according to CNN​. 

“Therefore, we request that you conduct an assessment of any materials held outside of NARA that relate to the Administration for which you serve as a designated representative under the PRA, to determine whether bodies of materials previously assumed to be personal in nature might inadvertently contain Presidential or Vice Presidential records subject to the PRA, whether classified or unclassified​.” 

The letter pointed out that all presidential records dating back to the Reagan administration must be turned over to NARA “regardless of classification status.”

Representatives of four ex-presidents – Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the late George H.W. Bush – have already said that all their records have been given to NARA.

Former President Jimmy Carter did not receive a letter because while he signed the records act into law in 1978, it didn’t go into effect until the Reagan administration. 

Carter found classified documents at his Plains, Ga., home, and returned the materials to NARA, the Associated Press reported this week, but it was unclear when the discovery was made. 

The FBI found dozens of classified records when agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and resort in Florida last August. 

Then Biden’s lawyers turned up sensitive materials at the Penn Biden Center think tank in Washington on Nov. 2, just six days before the midterm elections.

But the discovery wasn’t revealed until earlier this month following a report from CBS News. 

More documents were also found at Biden’s Delaware home in separate searches conducted in December and earlier this month. ​

On Tuesday, Pence confirmed that some classified materials were found at his Indiana home. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland has tapped special counsels to investigate Biden and Trump’s handling of classified documents. 

The National Archives told The Post it had no comment on the letter.