Fox News and NBC are reporting that Congress has been informed that Hillary Clinton’s unsecure home server contained information classified at levels higher than previously known, including classified Top Secret/Special Access. That would represent some of the most sensitive information to U.S. intelligence. I have held a TSSCI clearance since the Reagan Administration and I am again astonished by the remarkably bad judgment in the use of this server. In dealing with this type of information, it is generally restricted to SCIF and other highly restrictive access rules. Indeed, the limitations impose restrictions that have many of us grumbling constantly about the time and travel needed to deal with such documents in a safe and secure manner. CNN is reporting that “several dozen” new emails have been identified at the high classification level.
The Special Access material does not appear to be the same two Top Secret emails identified earlier among the hundreds of classified emails found on the server.
Charles McCullough, the intelligence community’s inspector general, said in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate intelligence and foreign affairs committees that he has received sworn declarations that cover “several dozen emails containing classified information determined by the IC element to be at the CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET and TOP SECRET/SAP information.”
Now here is the kicker. NBC says that one official involved in the investigation said that the special access program in question was so sensitive that McCullough and some of his aides had to receive clearance to be read in on it before viewing the sworn declaration about the Clinton emails.
Clinton has insisted that “I never sent classified material on my email, and I never received any that was marked classified.” The key of this spin is again the word “marked.” I have previously discussed why that explanation is less than compelling, particularly for anyone who has handled sensitive or classified material. As I discussed earlier, virtually anything coming out of the office of the Secretary of State would be considered classified as a matter of course. I have had a TS/SCI clearance since Reagan due to my national security work and have lived under the restrictions imposed on email and other systems. The defense is that this material was not technically classified at the time that it was sent. Thus it was not “classified” information. The problem is that it was not reviewed and classified because it was kept out of the State Department system. Moreover, most high-level communications are treated as classified and only individually marked as classified when there is a request for disclosure. You do not generate material as the Secretary of State and assume that it is unclassified. You are supposed to assume and treat it as presumptively classified. Otherwise, there would be massive exposure of classified material and willful blindness as to the implications of the actions of persons disregarding precautions. For example, there is not a person standing next to the President with a classification stamp in the Oval Office. However, those communications are deemed as presumptively classified and are not disclosed absent review. Under the same logic, the President could use a personal email system because his text messages by definition are not marked as classified. This is the whole reason that Clinton and others were told to use the protected email system run by the State Department. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to secure such systems.
The fact that an email was not marked classified could be a defense to a criminal charge but it does nothing to address horrendous judgment shown in using a private email system exclusively as one of the top government officials (and a chief target of foreign intelligence).
The presence of the highest classified material on the server would magnify the scandal further for Clinton, who has run on her experience and judgment in the national security area.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon responded to the story with the same point that nothing was actually marked classified: “This is the same interagency dispute that has been playing out for months, and it does not change the fact that these emails were not classified at the time they were sent or received. It is alarming that the intelligence community IG, working with Republicans in Congress, continues to selectively leak materials in order to resurface the same allegations and try to hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Just to put things in perspective, the Obama Administration prosecuted a Marine hero who used his Gmail to notify COC that a terrorist was on base.
One classified email sent on a private email, when lives were at stake, and this Marine is being prosecuted, and may face dishonorable discharge.
Another sailor was prosecuted when he sent his girlfriend a selfie, which had a sonar screen in the background.
The federal government takes the mishandling of classified information more seriously than I take the shutout of Outlander at the Golden Globes.
Hillary Clinton sent thousands of classified email on her private email, was caught telling a subordinate to remove a classified heading to send a doc over unsecured fax when the secured fax was down, did not hand over her private emails when she was subpoenaed over Benghazi, and deliberately wiped her server clean when she came under investigation.
See the difference in how the law is applied?
Look, if they want to pardon her for old times’ sake, at least come out and tell the truth, and call what she did a crime. Stop pretending she didn’t do anything wrong and it’s all just a GOP conspiracy. Just tell it like it is – you don’t want the law to apply to your fave Hillary Clinton, who suffers from affluenza and entitlement, and whose followers exhibit a severe presentation of sycophantia.
Just par for the course for the Beltway, really.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/14/hero-marine-nailed-for-sending-classified-report-from-personal-email.html
What would it say about our current system if Clinton can commit such gross violations of national security and seriously be considered for President? If she walks on this then what precedent is set for future violations from any one else? What a great way to commit espionage.
Olly, I agree, but that same argument is also applicable to the War Powers Act.
Why are women getting angry with Hillary? Emails are not the issue. Here are some tid bits from the 90’s:
“We have to destroy her story,” Mrs. Clinton said of one of the first women to come forward during her husband’s first presidential campaign.
Mrs. Clinton referred to Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern who had an affair with the 42nd president, as a “narcissistic loony toon”.
Over the years, the Clinton effort to cast doubt on the women included using words like “floozy,” “bimbo” and “stalker,” and raising questions about their motives.
James Carville, a longtime strategist for Mr. Clinton, was especially cutting in attacking Ms. Flowers.
“If you drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find,” Mr. Carville said of Ms. Flowers.
Lacking sworn written testimony under oath from independent expert source, readers should rightly presume Tin’s words are wishful thinking at best, outright Clinton propaganda at best: “…private server for her home, which…has never been hacked…”
Please remember the US government itself confirmed (thank God for Edward Snowden’s disclosures) what was prior “tin hat conspiracy theory:” paid CIA shills troll social media like this enforcing government narratives. Certainly Hillary’s hench persons could and might be here doing the same.
Per retired Federal Judge Andrew Napolitano: the FBI convicted of espionage an otherwise innocent active US Navy sailor for a selfie with a distant image of a sonar screen. Decorated Marine General Petreaus was convicted of espionage for documents in unlocked drawer in his office desk in his house surrounded by armed trained killers.
Intent and negligence are not defense in espionage case, the reason being that US spy agents can and do die miserable painful tortured deaths in order to supply such information to civilian scum of the earth like Hillary.
So the mere mention of “never hacked” is pure smoke and mirrors, or the statement of one of the persons I mentioned prior who’d vote for Hillary while watching her eat babies on live video feed (I suspect both qualifiers are accurate in Tin’s case).
” I mentioned prior who’d vote for Hillary while watching her eat babies on live video feed ”
Well that certainly ought to capture the attention of voters and liven up the debates. I wonder if Ms Schultz MSNBC have heard?
I can’t wait until Hillary is president and she posts the launch codes on a clipboard hanging on the fence around the White House.
ModernMiner – Bill kept losing the launch codes. Having them on the fence would make them readily available.
What bothers me is how so many people do not see this as an issue. Either they do not understand what an email server is, or they don’t understand how an employer is supposed to have control over the employee’s email. Or maybe they just don’t care.
There are voters, possibly some here, who would vote for Hillary if she ate babies on live video feed.
At the national level at least (possibly all levels), ban both major parties for at least a half C.
One of his friends, not one if his friends.
Maybe this is what Bernie the Bolshevik means, when he flaps his hands in the air, spittle flying, and cries, WE NEED A REVOLUTION???
Nah, his revolution has something to do with breaking up the banks, into small pieces, so small that they are invisible, dolling out free everything and anything for slackers who refuse to work or have any personal accountability in their lives–requiring the rest of us to pay for that indulgence of laziness and irresponsibility–and pissing off Wall Street, who, according to Bernie, was not going to be one if his friends. Question: does Bernie have any friends? I truly wonder what it’s like, to sit down at a meal with him. Does he ever turn off the–WE NEED TO HAVE A REVOLUTION–crap, long enough, to ask Aunt Edna to pass her special homemade kugel and brisket? Does the Bern have an off button? Does the Bern have more than the two ties, which he manages to interchange, when appears for the various debates and TV interviews? Come on, Bernie, even the Bolsheviks had more than one peasant top!
but could we wait until some actual facts come in?
Coming from the group that was willing to lynch Officer Wilson over the Ferguson gentle giant case, crucify George Zimmerman over the Trayvon Martin (Obama’s adopted son) case and are slavering to blame the Tea Party, NRA and Conservatives every time there is a shooting, without ANY facts being in……this is deliciously ironic. Wait for the actual facts…..ha ha ha ha…..wait
Did you MEAN to be funny or are you just unaware of being this much of a hypocrite?
I might also add that when the fact come in and the lynch mob is proven wrong, do any of you every apologize and admit that you were wrong or that you jumped the gun? No.
The final outcome of this is going to be very bad if it is all swept under the rug and Clinton gets away (again) with breaking the laws.
When “The People” see, plainly and irrefutably, that the laws do not apply and that the laws are being applied unfairly…..one law for the little people and no laws for the connected….then ALL laws mean nothing. We see that the immigration laws mean nothing and people are actually rewarded for breaking those laws. We see that the systems of laws and order is a joke.
IF laws have no meaning why should anyone obey the laws of the land??? Why? The country is no longer. We have no borders. The criminals in government are unaccountable. We are a lawless collection of groups: each person for him/herself against a lawless government.
This is the basis of rebellion and the kernel of Civil War.
The anger towards the system has been building and reaching a crescendo. Trump is a result of this not the cause of it. If Hillary gets away with this the anger will boil over.
If it gets swept under the rug and dies a slow death under present admin. She better hopes she wins the election.
“It has been widely reported…” and “There is a good chance…”
I know how much you would love to see her frog-marched out of her house, but could we wait until some actual facts come in?
“I know how much you would love to see her frog-marched out of her house, but could we wait until some actual facts come in?”
There does not seem to be any doubt at all that she subverted security and mis handled classified information.
These documents are the type that have names of CIA and NSA sources and assets. There is a good chance PEOPLE DIED because of this STUPID arrogance. The meme is Dems are smart. All evidence to the contrary.
Bernie Sanders has already said “enough talk about the emails.” That should be good enough for everybody.
It has been widely reported the Clinton server was hacked by more than one foreign agency.
FEEL THE BERN!
Lisa N
Excellent comment. It has always fascinated me just how lucky and, seemingly, insulated from prosecution, that these two grifters have been for all these many years. Nothing appears to stick to either of these con artists, and I can’t help but think of Al Capone–alleged to have been involved in multiple instances of criminal activity during his lifetime. Nothing seemed to bring him down until a problem, surrounding taxes, of all things, finally brought the roof down. Perhaps it will, ultimately, be the same for the Clintons–where some seemingly small, minor and innocuous incident, as compared to their previous criminal deeds, will act as their final downfall. Obviously, the big stuff just ain’t sticking. All in due time, my dear. All in due time. It ain’t over until the fat broad, in the oversized Mao-inspired pantsuit, sings.
@Terry -> Bill Clinton lost his law license for perjury to a federal court. You can hide your stuff from a thief but you can never protect yourself from a liar and that’s a common trait amongst the Clintons.
Hillary Clinton has been involved in scandals before. Here are some notable ones you may have forgotten.
Chinagate – The Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996 allegedly took bribes from Chinese banks and their government to help their dwindling poll numbers. The Chinese embassy in D.C. helped siphon funds into the DNC. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (who was killed in a plane crash), and at Hillary’s instruction reportedly sold seats on department trade missions to China. Joint congressional hearings were canceled after Democrats threatened to bring up Republican campaign issues and then Monica Lewinsky actually saved this scandal from media attention.
Travelgate Scandal – Catherine Cornelius, a 25-year-old cousin of Bill’s was allegedly promised the position of director of the travel office. Hillary Clinton then (indirectly) fired seven employees from the United States travel office and replaced them with associates from Arkansas. Records were either nowhere to be found or incorrectly filed. And, there’s a reported attempt to give a White House airline contract to friend. Hillary had the FBI investigate Billy Dale, the head of the travel office, ruining his career who was found to do nothing wrong, but was then audited by the IRS for three years after.
“Billy Dale and his family went through hell thanks to the Clintons, Attorney General Janet Reno, the FBI and the IRS,” Irvine wrote. “Hillary’s greatest crime was not perjury, it was trying to send an innocent man to prison to justify having fired him and his staff without cause.”
“A memorandum by a former Presidential aide depicts Hillary Rodham Clinton as the central figure in the 1993 travel office dismissals, a politically damaging episode that the aide said had resulted from a climate of fear in which officials did not dare question Mrs. Clinton’s wishes,” wrote the NYT in 1996.
Whitewater Scandal – Hillary and her husband were partners in a shady real estate development firm called Whitewater Development Corp in Arkansas. Accusations of impropriety against the Clintons and others soon surfaced, regarding improper campaign contributions, political and financial favors, and tax benefits. Clinton’s friends and majority owners, James and Susan McDougal were jailed for fraud, Clinton’s successor, Governor Jim Tucker, was jailed for fraud along with municipal judges David Hale and Eugene Fitzhugh who worked with James McDougal. The Clintons walked away unscathed, having apparently done nothing wrong.
See Whitewater Timeline.
Vince Foster Jr. Mystery – Questions cloud the suicide of Vince Foster, former colleague, friend, and White House aid of Hillary’s who had connections to Travelgate, and the Whitewater scandals. Read the link above entitled “The Man Who Knew too Much. . .”
Filegate Scandal – Craig Livingstone, director of the White House’s Office of Personnel Security “improperly” accessed FBI files on several hundred individuals.
Mrs. Clinton called it a, “completely honest bureaucratic snafu.”
Many of these files were on people from previous Republican administrations. Hillary Clinton hired Livingston and is alleged to have looked at the files and requested this move. She was accused by Republicans of violating privacy rights of individuals she viewed as political adversaries.
Cattle-Futures Miracle – Hillary’s first commodity trade was in cattle futures where she ordered 10 futures contracts which normally cost $12,000 dollars with only $1,000 dollars in her account. This turned into $6,300 dollars by the next morning and after 10 months totaled $100,000, with trading help from James B. Blair.
“Blair, who at the time was outside counsel to Tyson Foods Inc., Arkansas’ largest employer, says he was advising Clinton out of friendship, not to seek political gain. . .” reports The WashingtonPost.
Robert L. “Red” Bone ran the Springdale, AK financial services company REFCO allowed the trades and later, after investigation, had to pay the largest fine at the time in the exchanges history and was suspended for three years. Hillary Clinton said she was able to make the successful trading because she read the Wall Street Journal for research.
Lootergate – Bill and especially Hillary started to ship White House furniture to their personal home in Chappaqua, N.Y.. The Clintons claimed they were donated, but at only some were proven to be donated and meant to stay in the White House after contacting the manufacturers. The Clintons returned some of the furniture after pressure was put on them to do so.
“GOP lawmakers and others criticized Hillary Rodham Clinton in particular for accepting many presents just before she joined the Senate and became covered by strict ethics rules that prohibit accepting gifts worth more than $50.”
Drug Dealer Donor Scandal – Convicted drug trafficker Jorge Cabrera apparently made such a big donation to the Clinton’s campaign that he was invited to the White house without Secret Service present.
Ponzi Scheme and Political Favor Scandal – Norman Yung Yuen Hsu was a convicted pyramid investment promoter, and major Democratic donor. He contributed an undisclosed amount to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign.
“He was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison in 2009 by a judge who accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process in a way that ‘strikes at the very core of our democracy.”
Benghazi – Need I say more?
There is an article posted in the New York Times in 1996 entitled “Blizzard of Lies” about Hillary Clinton.
The mega Clinton Foundation is also rife with cronyism and political favors.
It never ends, it’s a virtual reality of constant corruption. . .
What PhillyT wrote: “Whether or not she broke the law, whether or not she did any “real” harm, the very stupidity of not following the rules and guidelines about email accounts should disqualify her from being president. She and Bill have been under incredible scrutiny for more than 20 years. Insane accusations, Star Chambers, a vast right wing conspiracy as she herself said. Knowing that, and not having anyone by her side to tell her NOT to do this? Totally stupid move.”
Hillary’s an arrogant, loose cannon.
During the Carter administration, I had a final top secret clearance while stationed at HQ Marine Corps in Arlington. For a time, I was preparing a Major General’s morning intelligence brief, which required that I highlight information in the brief relevant to research and development. To my surprise, much of the information in the brief – lots of it marked ‘secret,’ I’d see again a few days later, it having been leaked to a newspaper or Time Magazine or Newsweek. The point here is that leaks were a big deal at HQMC. I can’t imagine such a dereliction of duty by a sitting Secretary of State. I would have been serving time breaking rocks had I taken a Top Secret document home with me, let alone leaving it there.
Enough is enough from those two rich bobble heads.
@BigfatMike -> Exactly, the “devine” right is correct. . . . Hillary Clinton (D)evine behind her name.
A former CIA officer was charged with a Felony, convicted and jailed for sending “One” classified email to a journalist. . . . ONE !
As someone who was sworn in as a federal officer using the exact same oath as the President of the U. S. and having to sign the same classified disclosures, if I had done this, I would have been charged with a felony by now and sitting in jail too. All of my other federal officer friends would too. Where’s the Justice . . . .
Anyone remember “Filegate”?
A finding made by now Chief Judge Royce Lamberth in the famous Filegate case, which involved Bill and Hillary Clinton illegally obtaining 900 FBI files on perceived adversaries to intimidate witnesses.
It became well-known during the Clinton years that while the president was a “certified” sleaze ball, the most evil partner of this Bonnie-and-Clyde duo was Hillary.
She came to be seen as the “consigliore” of the couple, the one who had executed (pun intended) their dastardly plans and deeds.
Filegate – This patented Hillary scandal was first detected by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, which had been investigating the Clintons’ Travelgate caper.
What was learned is that more than 900 FBI files had been ordered up by a former bar bouncer, Craig Livingstone, whom Hillary had hired to work in the White House Counsel’s Office,
on the first lady’s orders and without proper legal justification. It was discovered, that Hillary’s finger prints were all over those FBI files.