There is another surprising report out today on the Clinton email scandal. Fox News Reporter Catherine Herridge is reporting that at least one of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s private server contained extremely sensitive information identified as “HCS-O,” the code used for reporting on human intelligence sources in ongoing operations. We previously discussed the disclosure that emails had been identified with Special Access Program information that even the Inspector General could not review without added clearances. In the meantime, some in the Clinton camp may be singing “Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” The State Department is citing the winter storm for yet another delay in releasing the remaining emails — possibly pushing their release past the first primary contests. Any break would likely be welcomed, particularly after a growing number of people including Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have said that Clinton’s decision to use an unsecure private email system probably resulted in the emails being hacked by various hostile powers.
According to a December 2013 policy document released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence: This designation “is used to protect exceptionally fragile and unique IC (intelligence community) clandestine HUMINT operations and methods that are not intended for dissemination outside of the originating agency.” That is the type of information that is most shielded from interception due to the risk to human lives. Since Clinton was one of the top targets for intelligence services, the transmittal of such information over an insecure line would be grossly negligent and potentially criminal.
Fox is also reporting that the “spillage” of classified information is greater than the “several dozen” emails identified in the January 14 letter to Congress, which also acknowledged for the first time, that the Clinton emails contained intelligence beyond Top Secret, also known as Special Access Programs (SAPs).
For all of these reasons, one can certainly appreciate if the campaign this month changes its theme song:
Little Larry,
That wasn’t an objection, it was an observation. Thanks.
Olly:
Everything you said at 5:38 is true. Anyone with the slightest understanding of classified information understands this.
And yet, I am so jaded I believe she is going to get away with this. She is above the law. And her success in evading the law will be used as proof by her supporters that she did nothing wrong.
We claim we want accountability in Washington, but too many judge through political glasses. For some reason politics is relevant to guilt.
We’re like the parent of juvenile delinquents, complaining about the behavior we enable and excuse.
Olly
You object to sarcasm? Are you saying you think we should take Hilde and the newest crazy one SERIOUSLY?
Have you ever taken the time to count all the crazies here? More than enough to fill up an entire mental ward and they’re ALL YOURS, baby. See if you can engage that team in some serious discussions and then you can start complaining to me about my sarcasm.
Jade Helm in 2016!
Lisa N
It’s a deal. I’m partial to amber ales. You?
@Lisa N
1, January 23, 2016 at 7:20 pm
“John -> I don’t recall who deep throat was but I bet he’s related to Hillary. lol”
“Breaking a silence of 30 years, former FBI deputy director W. Mark Felt stepped forward Tuesday as Deep Throat, the secret Washington Post source that helped bring down President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Within hours, the paper confirmed his claim.
“ ‘It’s the last secret’ of the story, said Ben Bradlee, the paper’s top editor at the time the riveting political drama played out three decades ago. It tumbled out in stages during the day — first when a lawyer quoted Felt in a magazine article as having said he was the source; then when the former FBI man’s family issued a statement hailing him as a ‘great American hero.’ Within hours, the newspaper confirmed Felt’s claim, ending one of the most enduring mysteries in American politics and journalism.
“The scandal that brought Nixon’s resignation began with a burglary and attempted tapping of phones in Democratic offices at the Watergate office building during his 1972 re-election campaign. It went on to include disclosures of covert Nixon administration spying on and retaliating against a host of perceived enemies.
“But the most devastating disclosure was Nixon’s own role in trying to cover up his administration’s involvement.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8047258/ns/us_news/t/ex-fbi-official-im-deep-throat/#.VqQ2UFlKnng
@Lisa N
1, January 23, 2016 at 4:43 pm
“John -> My mother was Spiro Agnew’s secretary as governor of Maryland and Vice President. We lived there in Baltimore until Nixon was impeached. It was a terrible time for all of us. I was just a little girl at the time but remember all the drama.”
“This is partly why I’m angry at the Justice Departments (sic) lack of action. My moms (sic) boss was put through hell and the democrats targeted him through the IRS. It changed our lives to the point of leaving the eastern seaboard and returning to the Midwest.”
Is there some part of the following record that you’d like to correct, Lisa?
“In 1973, Agnew was investigated by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland on charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery, and conspiracy. He was charged with having accepted bribes totaling more than $100,000 while holding office as Baltimore County Executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President.
“On October 10 that same year, Agnew was allowed to plead no contest to a single charge that he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967, with the condition that he resign the office of Vice President. Nixon later replaced Agnew by appointing House Minority Leader Gerald Ford as Vice President. The following year, when Nixon was forced to resign from the White House due to the Watergate scandal, Ford [became president].
“Agnew was the second Vice President in United States history to resign, the other being John C. Calhoun, and the only one to do so because of criminal charges. Nearly ten years after leaving office, Agnew paid the state of Maryland nearly $270,000 as a result of a civil suit that stemmed from the bribery allegations.
“In describing Agnew, Garry Wills borrows the backhanded compliment once paid Coolidge by H.L. Mencken: ‘No man ever came to market with less seductive goods, and no man ever got a better price for what he had to offer.’
“Agnew is widely considered by historians to be among the worst Vice Presidents in the history of the United States.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew
Word is the pizza obsessed Hillary is compulsively chowing down chain and frozen pizza in Iowa and New Hampshire, 2 of the worse states for “Eyetalian” food. She compulsively eats here anxiety. Bill screws his. Those house detention canklets are going to need to be XXXX size.
John -> I don’t recall who deep throat was but I bet he’s related to Hillary. lol
Lisa N,
Richard Nixon was a great American.
Richard Nixon was a loyal patriot who convicted the communist spy, Alger Hiss. He served as Dwight Eisenhower’s Vice President for eight years. After Eisenhower’s term the families socialized. Nixon’s charming daughter married Eisenhower’s grandson and they became one family.
Ironically, Nixon paid the political price for the Kennedy-Johnson Viet Nam War. In the Watergate affair, his staff jimmied an office door lock and purloined a file from a cabinet. A Machiavellian Hoover-era FBI official, a convicted felon consumed with self-loathing and hiding in the shadows, exposed information on usual and customary political protocols and kept his secret as a coward until he faded into dementia and death.
.
L’Observer,
Your sarcasm is quite understandable. Without any rational explanation for Clinton’s deplorable lack of judgment and chronic inability to accept responsibility as a result of that judgment, defenders are left with little else than sarcasm.
Perhaps a discussion on the life expectancy of this republic’s rule of law should be encouraged given the possibility Clinton could escape justice and actually become the next President. If she walks, why would any government agent be concerned with prosecution for espionage if all they needed to do was remove classifications and put this information on their personal computer at home? If she walks, then the precedent will have been established.
L’Observer -> Try for February, that’s not too long to wait.
PhillyT -> You got it and let’s throw in a couple beers. 🍕🍻
You learn the most amazing things here.
Who would ever guess that Lovely Lisa’s mom worked for Agnew, and that Lisa follows the Palin School of Blaming Democrats for Personal Failure and Law Breaking.
And we welcome our newest commenter, Alicia M, who thoughtfully informs us of many things, including the elimination of some sort of funding in order to relocate citizens and segregate them in cities by race. She and Hilde will, no doubt, have much to discuss.
All that, and unbiased reporting from Fox! And the words ‘probably’ and ‘there are reports’ and “I suspect”, and ‘there are secrets that are so secret that I have no idea of what they reveal but it must be pretty bad’ and a ‘Republican congressman tells me’ are all that are necessary to get a law professor employed by the Republican House of Representatives to wage his battle against lawless corruption in government and the Reckless use of Clinton Servers. All these super, super secret, that no one can possibly read, emails that are somehow leaked to the Pulitzer winning Fair and Balanced Fox News during a general election year.
We anxiously await the (second)Turley/Spinelli announcement of the Clinton Indictment. (Their first announcement of an indictment was several months ago. Stay alert, folks! Any moment now…) In the meantime, we are entertained by the 5000 House Investigations that are proceeding apace.
It’s a good day here on the Turley Blog.
Lisa,
If you ever bothered to actually read my posts instead of clutching your pearls and fainting, you would see and know that I am no fan of Hillary Clinton. I think she sold out to the banks and corporations a long time ago.
I see a lot of accusations, innuendo, speculation, and pathological paranoia here. I’m just waiting for the actual facts to come out. Will I be surprised if she gets indicted? Not really. Will I be surprised if it turns out there is no “there” there? Not at all.
What I’m wondering is, if it turns out that this is another flight of fancy on the part of Ruprecht Morduck and his ilk, will the right wing nutjobs on this board ever ever let it go? I think we all know the answer to that.
You’re gonna owe me a pizza.
Are there any facts that are not in dispute which violated existing laws?
Was a private email account used for State Department business? Yes
Was a private server used for State Department business? Yes
Was classified information sent through this private email account and stored on the private server? Yes
Was State Department personnel instructed to remove classification markings prior to sending information to the private email account? Yes
Is information “classified” because of its markings? No, it is classified due to the content.
Was the highest level of classified information found to be stored in the private server? Yes
Does the use of a private server expose our most vital secrets to being hacked more than if it were secured in the State Department system? Irrelevant
Do we need to prove classified information was actually hacked before people should be indicted? No
How many accounts have received these unmarked classified documents? How many times has this information been shared?
In what sick and twisted mind are the answers to these questions only significant depending on the individual(s) involved? In other words, how willfully ignorant does one need to be to dismiss this on partisan grounds?
If we remember how the broken Nazi and Japanese codes were carefully used (nurtured) so that neither enemy knew, it would tell us why we haven’t seen the results of any compromise of our data by either or both of Russian and Chinese agencies. Move to isolate then, later, kill or dispose of the spies. Endeavor to cover operations with a false story or circumstance.
We didn’t know about Walker or Ames until well after they started their treasonous endeavors.
Given enough time there isn’t any message that can’t be cracked. We just hope that the decryption is achieved well after any possible costly consequence. Human, operational, communication interrelations will lead to translation.
I just want the law to apply equally to politicians, government employees, and the rest of us. This isn’t about politics. I’m so sick and tired of politicians lying and above the law. That’s how we got an inexperienced Senator in the WH on the Hope and Change ticket. That’s why we have a Socialist and a Megalomaniac doing so well in the Duopoly polls. We’re all just sick of business as usual. (Can we please have some better options, though?)
I don’t want a King or a Queen answerable to none.
We prosecuted a hero Marine who used his private Gmail account to warn of a terrorist. His efforts were to save lives. Hillary just wanted control on what communications she would have to turn over. CYOA.
Let’s see if her Teflon coating has begun to flake off, or if it’s just as toxic under high heat.
Phillyt -> Gawd I can’t wait until she’s indicted and I’m going to come back on here and throw all your silly in denial words in your face.
Trust me, it’s going to happen. She will end her presidential bid before it happens. Take your rose colored glasses off for once in your liberal existence and see her for what she is. . . . an elitist white collar criminal. In case you don’t trust me, time will tell. Tic tic tic
“This cycling Karma stuff is weird. Is that a smile on Nixon’s face?”
John -> My mother was Spiro Agnew’s secretary as governor of Maryland and Vice President. We lived there in Baltimore until Nixon was impeached. It was a terrible time for all of us. I was just a little girl at the time but remember all the drama.
My mother was a liberal at the time but her typing skills were unsurpassed and why she was in demand on the Hill back then.
This is partly why I’m angry at the Justice Departments lack of action. My moms boss was put through hell and the democrats targeted him through the IRS. It changed our lives to the point of leaving the eastern seaboard and returning to the Midwest.
It’s such hypocrisy and I wonder what Nixon’s family thinks about it all now.
When humans leak they should put the toilet seat up if they are a male, down if they are females leaking while seated. The seat should be up when done so that the next male leaker does not miss. Mr. Putin will take aim and fire his leak soon. Flush twice when flying over a pirate territory. Much ado about nothing unless you sit on a wet seat. Diplomats have diplomatic pouches. They should use them. No more emails. A little time will tell. No pun intended. Planes are headed for Pearl Harbor. The details are in the pouch. A stitch in time will get FDR nine. Well he got another four but he croaked. Truman was better. But he has no huge foundation and is just known as the failed haberdasher while FDR is the great one. Email, snail mail, pee male, pee female. All the same.