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Retired CIA Officer Explains Why "Hillary's Emails Matter" [must read]
zero hedge ^
| 31OCT16
| Authored by Charles Faddis (a former CIA operations officer with 20 years of experience in intellige
Posted on 10/30/2016 4:36:03 PM PDT by vannrox
Retired CIA Officer Explains Why "Hillary's Emails Matter"
Authored by Charles Faddis (a former CIA operations officer with 20 years of experience in intelligence operations), originally posted at TheHill.com,
The 2016 presidential election, already one of the wildest in American history, has been rocked by the announcement that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State.
Apparently while investigating disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner’s transmission of sexually explicit images to a fifteen-year-old girl, the FBI discovered more emails relevant to Hillary Clinton’s own infamous case.
At the time, Weiner was married to Huma Abedin, Clinton’s personal aide, perhaps best known for her alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The emails appear to have been found on a computer used by both Abedin and Weiner.
Where all this goes from here remains unclear. That said, in the interest of helping a scandal-weary electorate put these new developments in context, shall we review a few things?
I have worked in national security my entire life. Most of that has been in the intelligence community surrounded by classified information. For twenty years, I worked undercover in the Central Intelligence Agency, recruiting sources, producing intelligence and running operations. I have a pretty concrete understanding of how classified information is handled and how government communications systems work.
Nobody uses a private email server for official business. Period. Full stop.
The entire notion is, to borrow a phrase from a Clinton campaign official, “insane.” That anyone would presume to be allowed to do so is mind-boggling. That government officials allowed Hillary Clinton to do so is nauseating.
Classified and unclassified information do not mix. They don’t travel in the same streams through the same pipes. They move in clearly well defined channels so that never the twain shall meet. Mixing them together is unheard of and a major criminal offense.
If you end up with classified information in an unclassified channel, you have done something very wrong and very serious.
Accidentally removing a single classified message from controlled spaces, without any evidence of intent or exposure to hostile forces, can get you fired and cost you your clearance. Repeated instances will land you in prison.
Every hostile intelligence agency on the planet targets senior American officials for collection. The Secretary of State tops the list. Almost anything the Secretary of State had to say about her official duties, her schedule, her mood, her plans for the weekend, would be prized information to adversaries.
It is very difficult, in fact, to think of much of anything that the Secretary of State could be saying in email that we would want hostile forces to know.
As we wait for more information on the latest revelations, let’s quickly note what we already know Hillary Clinton did.
While Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton exclusively used a private email address for official business. Instead of using a State Department account, she used a personal email account, housed on a private server located in her home in Chappaqua, New York. The Department of State exercised zero control or oversight in this process. No government security personnel were involved in protecting them.
When the House Select Committee on Benghazi asked to see these emails, the Department of State said they did not have them. Clinton’s lawyers then went through all the emails on her server. They turned over 30,000 emails they decided were work related and deleted all of the rest.
How they made the decision as to which emails to share and which to destroy remains unknown. Active government officials not were involved in this process.
Hillary says she did not use the account to transmit classified information. This has been proven false. The FBI found over 100 messages that contained information that was classified when sent, including numerous email chains at the level of Top Secret/Special Access Programs. They don’t get any more highly classified, it’s the virtual summit of Mt. Everest. One theme pertained to the movement of North Korean nuclear assets obtained via satellite imagery. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this is extremely sensitive information.
The FBI found another 2,000 messages containing information that should have been classified at the time it was sent. How much more classified information may have been in the tens of thousands of emails, which Clinton’s lawyers erased, is completely unknown.
Hillary Clinton supporters like to ask rhetorically, “Well, what about Colin Powell?” Nice try, but using your own private email address which received 2 emails determined to be classified later, is nothing like deliberately operating a home brewed server, and then see it handle thousands of classified e-mails.
It’s like asking, "what about the guy who received a stolen apple?" while equating his actions to those of bank robbers who stole $10 million.
What happens next we do not know. What we do know already is this. While serving in one of the most senior positions in the United States Government, Hillary Clinton was at a minimum, grossly negligent in the handling of classified information and when confronted with this practice, acted immediately to destroy information and prevent a full, fair and complete investigation of any damage to national security.
Anyone else who did such things in the government would long ago have been tried, convicted and sent to jail.
You decide if you want to send her to the White House instead.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2tieredlaw; abovethelaw; classifiedinfo; clinton; clintonsarespecial; comeyrico; crime; criminalactions; election; elections; email; grossnegligence; hillary; incompetence; lynchrico; nationalsecurity; nomorelaw; privateserver; rules4theexempt; securitybreach; specialpeople; trumpwasright
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To: vannrox
Nobody uses a private email server for official business. Period. Full stop. That's right. All employees are trained to look at e-mail addresses. If it's not .mil or .gov, they're not supposed to send FOUO, Privacy Act, and other info as well as classified. Anybody in the government who sent Hillary anything at her non-government e-mail address could very well be in violation of governing laws, too.
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
42
posted on
10/30/2016 6:19:56 PM PDT
by
combat_boots
(I no longer know what to say to put here. Pray for us.)
To: Bob
LOL...well...disregard this one, too!
43
posted on
10/30/2016 6:20:05 PM PDT
by
rlmorel
(Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
To: vannrox
He’s spot on in his assessment of the situation.
Documents handling, computer network security protocols, and requirements for the people dealing with the info is as he has said.
LOCK ILLARY & HUMA UP !!!
44
posted on
10/30/2016 6:25:13 PM PDT
by
WildHighlander57
((WildHighlander57, returning after lurking since 2000)
To: RummyChick; Whenifhow; LucyT; Albion Wilde; hoosiermama
RummyChick wrote: "DJ Lewis @umpire43 Scoop!! At 10.00AM EST a letter sent to SD by FBI to revoke Passport of Huma Abdin.Do not ask for link!! I have never given you wrong info."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3486944/posts?page=19#19
All y'all , ping to request made by fbi to state dept to have huma abedin passport revoked.
45
posted on
10/30/2016 6:31:05 PM PDT
by
WildHighlander57
((WildHighlander57, returning after lurking since 2000)
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
“...Anybody in the government who sent Hillary anything at her non-government e-mail address could very well be in violation of governing laws, too. ...”
That includes 0 also.
He had a pseudonym & was emailing back & forth with illary .
46
posted on
10/30/2016 6:33:41 PM PDT
by
WildHighlander57
((WildHighlander57, returning after lurking since 2000)
To: vannrox
I am sincerely concerned that possibly Huma Wiener has been a spy and forwarded Emails to foreign enemies ! there is no other explanation, Comey admitted there were “ top secret” emails on the hacked server!! What could have done this? We have a traitor next to Hillary IMO!!
47
posted on
10/30/2016 6:35:40 PM PDT
by
WENDLE
(Did HUMA forward secret emails to foreign enemies?)
To: Churchillspirit
Speaking on FOX a few minutes ago, Doug Schon (sp) has just said that he can no longer support Hillary.Thanks for posting that, I must've caught the last couple of seconds before they went to commercial because all I noted was that Schoen looked particularly dejected.
48
posted on
10/30/2016 6:43:28 PM PDT
by
prairiebreeze
(Don't be afraid to see what you see. -- Ronald Reagan)
To: VRWCarea51
No, I read elsewhere that she showed up at Clinton campaign headquarters for a while today (Sunday) after being hold up in her apartment refusing to speak with anybody yesterday. Today she wouldn’t speak with reporters.
49
posted on
10/30/2016 6:46:20 PM PDT
by
prairiebreeze
(Don't be afraid to see what you see. -- Ronald Reagan)
To: Fiddlstix
50
posted on
10/30/2016 7:25:05 PM PDT
by
Chainmail
(A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
To: vannrox
Classified and unclassified information do not mix. They dont travel in the same streams through the same pipes. They move in clearly well defined channels so that never the twain shall meet. Mixing them together is unheard of and a major criminal offense. I'm glad he pointed this out.
Comey's original claim that he wouldn't recommend prosecution because Hillary "had no intent" was completely bogus. It is no more possible to place classified information on an unclassified system by accident than it is to disable the air bags in your car by accident. It takes deliberate action of a type that is probably illegal in a secure space.
This woman's claim to be qualified to be president is based on how she professes to "care" about children. She can present no real qualification, and her actions on national security show that she is a disaster.
She deserves to be in prison.
51
posted on
10/30/2016 7:42:55 PM PDT
by
exDemMom
(Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
To: WildHighlander57
Yep. There’s a reason he’s lawyered-up and saying nothing while Hillary catches all the heat. He won’t be prosecuted as an ex-president, he’s just running out the clock.
To: prairiebreeze
53
posted on
10/30/2016 7:50:47 PM PDT
by
VRWCarea51
(The Original 1998 Version)
To: ilovesarah2012
Request FROM FBI to SD...State Dept
54
posted on
10/30/2016 8:10:42 PM PDT
by
goodnesswins
(Hillary & Huma SUPPORT those who support CLITORECTOMIES for little girls...SICKOS)
To: Steven Tyler
My THOUGHTS The NYPDD special victims unit, or the same sort of unit in North Carolina, discover Wiener was sending nude photos of children accross the interwebs. They discover Weiner used the Clinton server to distribute said child pron. Worse, either Bill, Hillary, or both, also traded child pron across the interwebs vis the Clinton server. Finally, their customers were the highest mover and shakers across the globe. That would get Comeys attention and require a letter to Congress That could certainly explain why they insisted on a home brew private server for ALL their emails. Better to hide that way. We may never really know everything these lying criminals were doing and who was involved with them. It's kinda funny how Hilliary let her imagination run wild on what Trump was hiding in his tax returns in the debate and now even her proponents are starting to wonder what SHE is hiding.
It would be sublime to hear the FBI expose some of what caught their eye in the Weiner's case involving Hilliary because we know it HAS to be pretty important to the Email case because then whatever October or November "surprise" (time's running out) they had in the works for Trump will be peanuts compared to it and will be seen for the desperate flailing it is. They certainly have it coming to them!
55
posted on
10/30/2016 8:25:35 PM PDT
by
boatbums
(God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
That's right. All employees are trained to look at e-mail addresses. If it's not .mil or .gov, they're not supposed to send FOUO, Privacy Act, and other info as well as classified. Anybody in the government who sent Hillary anything at her non-government e-mail address could very well be in violation of governing laws, too. My thoughts exactly! Every Email she got - regardless of subject matter - was SENT to her domain name so NOBODY has an excuse for that. How can they claim they didn't know she was receiving the emails on an unsecure server when they were sending TO: hillaryclinton@clinton.com??? Sounds like a LOT of people need disciplinary action and/or reviews of their security clearance. Obama included!
56
posted on
10/30/2016 8:34:32 PM PDT
by
boatbums
(God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
To: WENDLE
I am sincerely concerned that possibly Huma Wiener has been a spy and forwarded Emails to foreign enemies ! there is no other explanation, Comey admitted there were top secret emails on the hacked server!! What could have done this? We have a traitor next to Hillary IMO!! Especially since we're talking about close to a MILLION emails on that shared laptop!
57
posted on
10/30/2016 8:37:05 PM PDT
by
boatbums
(God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
To: vannrox
So, Mr. Comey, do we have
Intent yet?
"1. 18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information 18 U.S. Code § 798 - Disclosure of classified information"
"2. U.S. Code § 1924 - Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material"
"3. 18 U.S. Code § 2071(b) -- Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally"
Mr. Comey, did Hillary Clinton remove, conceal, mutilate, or destroy any document?
Assuming your answer is Yes, then is she Disqualified from holding any office under the United States?
"4. 18 U.S. Code § 641 - Public money, property or records"
"5. 18 U.S. Code § 1505 - Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees"
"6. 18 U.S. Code § 1519 -- Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations"
"7. 18 U.S. Code § 1031 -- Fraud against the United States 18 U.S. Code § 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio or television 18 U.S. Code § 1346 -- Definition of "scheme or artifice to defraud" 18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to defraud the United States"
"8. 18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to commit a federal offense With each law broken multiple times, there are indictable offenses galore.
According to Rudy Giuliani, there are at least 15 separate violations of U.S. Federal Code, and many multiple counts therein.
58
posted on
10/30/2016 8:50:39 PM PDT
by
Art in Idaho
(Conservatism is the only Hope for Western Civilization.)
To: RummyChick
Great post! Thanks.
The more noise and speculation that is sustained over the course of the next 10 days, the better the chances HRC Campaign collapses and she goes down.
I have some degree of concern that it can be sustained. Certainly hope so, but the media will be in concert with HRC expeditiously trying to salvage her, and we know very well when a cornered animal is most dangerous.
I enjoy *Anonymous. Thx.
59
posted on
10/30/2016 9:12:36 PM PDT
by
RitaOK
(Viva Christo Rey! Public Education is the farm team for more Marxists coming,... infinitum.)
To: vannrox
60
posted on
10/30/2016 9:20:22 PM PDT
by
editor-surveyor
(Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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