XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Not Just Classified, but Special Access Programs.

Which, there’s three levels of classification- Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. Then there Special Compartmented Information, wherein Top Secret Information is held to a close group of cleared individuals. And then there’s Special Access Programs– information that is under an additional set of protocols for information security assurance. Or you could just let it sit…

Which, there’s three levels of classification- Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. Then there Special Compartmented Information, wherein Top Secret Information is held to a close group of cleared individuals. And then there’s Special Access Programs– information that is under an additional set of protocols for information security assurance. Or you could just let it sit on Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Emails from Hillary Clinton’s home server contained information classified at levels higher than previously known, including a level meant to protect some of the most sensitive U.S. intelligence, according to a document obtained by NBC News.

In a letter to lawmakers, the intelligence community’s internal watchdog says some of Clinton’s emails contained information classified Top Secret/Special Access Program, a secrecy designation that includes some of the most closely held U.S. intelligence matters.

Two American intelligence officials tell NBC News these are not the same two emails from Clinton’s server that have long been reported as containing information deemed Top Secret.

Hillary Clinton deliberately went to the trouble of setting up her own email server for herself and her closest associates at State. Why? A lack of secure facilities at State? Hardly.

Because she knew she was trading influence and favor in return for donations to her so called foundation (which, let’s face it, that’s pretty much a money laundering operation) and having her own email system would remove all her communications from oversight by Congress.

Indulge me in the fantasy that Clinton is indicted and brought to trial for mishandling of classified information, obstruction, and evidence tampering.  One fun aspect would be the jury pool. Every American has a right to examine the evidence against them. And the SAP evidence would likely end up being presented to the jurors. Which would mean they, as well as the judge, prosecution, and defense counsel, and a host of others, would have to be screened for a security clearance, and authorized limited access to the very programs the SAP is designed to protect.

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Responses to “Not Just Classified, but Special Access Programs.”

  1. Pave Low John

    So good luck trying to nail someone in the future for mishandling classified information if the DOJ refuses to send this debacle to a grand jury.

    The flip-side, of course, is the recent announcement that Ashton Carter is “thinking” (I love that short-hand for “sticking your finger in the air to see which way the breeze is blowing”) of retroactively demoting Gen. Petraeus to LTG because he gave classified info to that O-4 he was banging. Because an example has to be made, dontcha know? They probably won’t do it, but just the idea that Carter made the notion public tells you everything you need to know about the SECDEF.

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  2. trevormarine

    From where would the jury pool be drawn for that particular federal trial? How wide of net would have to be cast to find enough prospective jurors that meet those pretty restrictive security clearance requirements mentioned above?

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  3. KenH

    So, Yeah
    Code-word Materiel and Classifications, and Death-Penalty level statutes have no meaning any more.

    Got that….

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  4. Kirk

    If they don’t prosecute Hillary, they pretty much have to release Manning, and anyone else who has ever been prosecuted for this kind of thing. I can see the appeals revving up, already.

    If, in the course of my last job in the Army, that of Brigade S2 NCOIC, I had done what Hillary did, or even looked the other way while it was, I’d be under Fort Leavenworth, and not seeing the light of day until the second coming. If she gets away with this bullshit, then that pretty much finishes the job of gutting the intelligence and security system that they started when they put a time-serving hack from Denver in charge of OPM. I’m having a hard time believing that all this was accidental and the result of well-meant misadventure. Once, its an accident. Twice, its a coincidence. Three times? It’s either treason or enemy action. There hae been way, way too many breaches of security on this administration’s watch, and I’m really starting to wonder.

    Another question is, just how long has OPM been open? How did Snowden and Manning get their clearances pushed through, when they both should have been red-flagged somewhere in the process? Manning’s behavior would have gotten him his clearance pulled in any unit I was around, and I know for a fact that we wouldn’t have even put his silly little ass up for a TS in the first place. So, how’d he get one? Hell, I had senior Majors get theirs turned down for relatively minor peccadilloes, like having had recent financial problems due to divorce. How’d Manning and Snowden get through the system to do what they did, in the first damn place?

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  5. RetRsvMike

    Well, the server was located in Chappaqua, so I’m in the Fed district, and my yellow sheet down at CCF wouldn’t be TOO hard to re-certify, so…..

    Yeah, put me in that jury pool!

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  6. Stormy

    Qualified, ready and standing by for jury summons!

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  7. Kirk

    Just realized something… We have compromised OPM. Who is to say that that won’t lead to her jury pool being “seeded” with people that have no business holding a clearance?

    On the other hand, her lawyers are likely to argue that the fact that her jury will have to consist of people who have high security clearances will mean that she can’t get a fair trial, either, because those people are far less likely to take security violations lightly.

    Frankly, if I were up on charges akin to hers, I’d want my lawyer to do his best to keep people with clearances far away from the jury pool–And, since they inherently can’t… Gonna be interesting, to say the least. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see this case wind up going on for years and years…

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  8. Diogenes of NJ

    Until they indite her, Snowden gets a pass from me.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Quartermaster

    When I was in the lowest level was “For Official Use Only.” We couldn’t just throw the stuff away. We had to destroy it as if it were stamped “Confidential.” We had a number of charts and pubs that fell under that classification. I have no idea if the Navy still has that level or not.

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  10. timactual

    I seem to recall a few instances where prosecution was indeed declined because of the need to preserve secrets. On the other hand, I am sure there is enough to prosecute her and a few other people without compromising security.

    Bryan Pagliano, for instance. The hapless IT guy who installed and maintained Hillary’s system and took the Fifth before Congress. Evidently he was working for the State Dept. while Hillary paid him to install her server. He did not report the outside income, as required. I suspect that Hillary suggested that he not report the income (no proof, of course), thus covering her tracks. She gets her systems installed secretly by a trusted long time employee, at no expense to the gov’t. (that would be a nono), and Bryan gets a sweet gov’t. gig.

    http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/04/hillarys-highly-paid-it-guru-had-no-national-security-experience/

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  11. Jeff Gauch

    I see FOUO stuff all the time. The shipyard here has taken to simply destroying all white paper as NOFORN. Classified stuff is still destroyed separately.

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  12. Pave Low John

    Here’s a pertinent question, I suppose. Just for my own curiosity, what was the highest security clearance you guys had when you were in? I was a planner for a couple of years at a unit in the ROK, so that called for a TS/SCI and that was the highest one I ever held. What did you other guys have, if you don’t mind saying?

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  13. xbradtc

    I had a Secret clearance because I was the Brigade XO’s driver, and might be exposed to war plans. I wasn’t, but had the clearance just in case.

    Yes, war plans only held a Secret classification.

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  14. NaCly Dog

    TS/SCI. Needed as a CMS Custodian.

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  15. Pave Low John

    By the way, for the curious, getting and maintaining a TS clearance was a huge pain in the ass, that is one part of the military I do not miss at all….

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  16. trevormarine

    Secret. It was one of those deals where the Platoon Sergeant said ” Go see the First Shirt. You have to go to Battalion to sign paperwork for your security clearance. Oh yeah, you’re on the nuke team. No, shitbag. Not the assembly team. Just the security team.” I never saw or even came close to seeing anything of a “sensitive” nature.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Paul L. Quandt

    As Bn S-2/NCO ( CalARNG ), I had a TS clearance.

    Paul

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  18. Esli

    Supposed to be re-submitting my TS paperwork as I read this, since I let it expire a while back. But here I am reading about this instead. Stupid lunch break.

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  19. Stacy0311

    Re-doing my secret squirrel paperwork. “Why do I have to go back 10 years when my last clearance was 5 years ago?” “Because F#$% you that’s why.” Glad I kept a copy of that last round of paperwork.
    One of the fun things with secret squirrel level clearances is the opportunity to tell senior officers “Sir, you’re going to have to leave the room. You’re not cleared for this information.” And watching them sputter and squirm!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Pave Low John

    Yeah, I always kept copies of all my clearance paperwork, because you just know they were going to lose it the one time you didn’t.

    As for senior officers….I was once the POC for a visit by General Schoomaker (then the USSOCOM commander) to Osan Air Base (I was the chief of plans for the only SOF unit at Osan). While I was briefing his visit to the Wing Commander’s staff, they wanted to know his exact itinerary. Unfortunately, I told them, we would need to be in SCIF to discuss that….and only with cleared personnel. The staff wienies didn’t like to hear that, but the Wing CC, a full-bird colonel, knew that I was merely stating the obvious and that I was also just following the regs. As it turned out, the PAO folks couldn’t even put his name on the marquee sign at the front of the base, so it just read “WELCOME ARMY GENERAL TO OSAN AIR BASE”. I got a laugh out of it, at least….

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  21. Quartermaster

    We were required to destroy it just as if it were classified. It’s quite possible the required treatment has changed, but we had to send it to be burnt, or burn it ourselves (we had an incinerator on Sylvania) and log the destruction.

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  22. Quartermaster

    I had to have a secret clearance as Quartermaster. I was simply given it. I didn’t ask for it. Had to have the same level to go to OCS.

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  23. timactual

    Clearance? I don’t need no steenkin’ clearance.

    Long ago I worked for a janitorial firm who had contracts on a SAC base. Some of the facilities we cleaned required us to be buzzed in and escorted at all times ( that always bugged me; they could have done it themselves cheaper and faster). One fine day my partner and I went to clean the Group COs office. The secretary chose to escort my partner, and so I had unfettered physical access to the COs office.

    During the course of my duties I went behind the COs desk and, lo and behold, staring up at me from an open desk drawer, was a document prominently labeled SECRET (at least) and bordered in red and black (?). I was sorely tempted to take it, and maybe others, put it in my garbage bag, and deliver it to the Counter Intelligence office (which we also cleaned). The only thing that stopped me was the absolute knowledge (me being a veteran) that I would be the one catching all the crap, not the Col.

    We also had unrestricted physical access to innumerable computers, albeit in pre-USB days.

    One point being that clearances or not, if you are stupid or careless enough to leave secret material lying around EVEN IN ‘SECURE’ LOCATIONS, you are not secure.

    We peasants are a sly, tricky lot.

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