Hillary Clinton initiallybrushed off criticsof her determination to employ a private e-mail waiter by suppose it was more convenient . But now her “ convenience ” is derailing her presidential movement . Yesterday , the former Secretary of State and current popular frontrunner agreed to turn over her personal serverto the Department of Justice .
Exactly how much her insistence on opaque , individual control over digital communications will mutilate her prospect is still in question . Union investigators are trying to figure out if classified entropy was spoil on her server , and a probe from the Intelligence Community Inspector General found thatat least four of the emailson the server contained information that remain classified .
“ I ’m confident that I never send nor received any info that was classified at the time it was sent or received , ” Clinton has insisted , couching her defence in language that pay her squirm room to later intromit that her “ trust ” was insupportable . State Department spokesman John Kirby has used similarly strategic language guard Clinton , emphasizingthat the say classified emails were not “ mark classified . ” Kirby ’s justificatory posture implies that if what Clinton ’s server deem is n’t explicitly earmark as Confidential / Secret / Top Secret , it ’s no harm , no foul .
If this calculated deflection sounds familiar , it ’s because Clinton is far from the first high - power political player criminate of bodge classified information , and far from the first to initially deny it .
Here ’s a list of hoi polloi the Clinton squad may require to call up for sound advice :
What he mishandled : Classified document and handwritten note on classified documents
How he foul up them : Swung them around in his briefcase
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzaleztook notes on the government ’s warrantless wiretapping programand how it interrogate terrorism detainees and got caught carrying them around in his briefcase . The scrawled note , like Clinton ’s email , were not explicitly label as classified . He also hold on classified text file in a safe in his office that was n’t right secured . In 2008 , the inspector full general published a report outlining Gonzalez ’s open security habit .
What happened to him : For treating classified information like a spicy salami sandwich , Gonzalez got … admonished . He was never charged with a crime .
What he bollocks : Classified documents and his own handwritten musical note on classified text file , about the Clinton Administration ’s act of terrorism record
How he mishandled them : Stole and destroyed with pair of pair of scissors
Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger had no intentions of leaking documents — in fact , he got in fuss for destroying them .
In 2003 , Bergertook classified documentsfrom the National Archives and Records Administration . He took five documents , but once he realized many were identical , he thin the ones he moot duplicate up with scissors at his office . He also took his own handwritten note , which , like Clinton ’s emails , were not specifically marked as classified . Nonetheless , prosecuting officer noted that he was forbidden to remove them from the Archives “ until a categorization follow-up was done . ”
What happened to him : After initially attempting to suggest that — whoopsie!—he’d flake off out and moseyed off with the documents , Berger fessed up , plead guilty to a misdemeanor , and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $ 50,000 fine .
What he blow : 17,000 classified document ( contents unknown )
How he mishandled it : Generally inept calculator security and/or want of fucks given about estimator surety *
Former CIA director John Deutch was caughtkeeping classified government informationon his home data processor in Maryland and Massachusetts . In 1996 , he will the CIA after his boggy methods came to light and an probe followed . Sen. Chuck Grassley ( R - Iowa)—now peep Clinton for her electronic mail scandal — was outspoken against Deutch , calling him “ a congenital downloader of classified information . ’’
What happened to him : He lostsecurity clearances , but he was never charged with a crime .
On the last daytime of his presidency , Bill Clinton pardoned Deutch .
- auditory sensation intimate ?
What he fluff : Notes on classified meetings ; classified written document ; security measures code ; names of covert operatives ; war scheme ; his marriage
How he mismanage it : In a lusty stupor
The only mishandler of classified information on this tilt to do it all for the nookie , former CIA Director David Petraeus watch his calling disintegrate after he was caught for giving eight notebooks full of classified materials to his biographer - cum - sex pardner . The notebook check broad notes Petraeus took during meetings , notes that bring out top secret code information and details about warfare strategy .
After ab initio denying that he gave his mistress the notebooks , Petraeus pled shamed to one count of unauthorized remotion and keeping of classified material .
What happened to him : The rich , powerful , butterfly devolve armed services superstargot off easyfor his misdeeds in 2015 , sentenced to two year ’ probation and fined $ 100,000 for store maw of classified information in a rucksack at his mistress ’ house .
What he mishandled : Classified selective information on the raid of Osama bin Laden
How he mishandled it : By run his lip like a schmuck
With three on this list , it ’s unmortgaged that former CIA director are shockingly inept at not exposing classified selective information . Leon Panetta straight - uptold classified selective information to a writerin person , leaking the name of the Navy seal of approval credit with killing Osama bin Laden during a speech that was classified as “ Top Secret ” despite the fact that a Zero Dark Thirty film writer without certificate clearance was in attending .
What happen to him : Panetta was not charged despite clearly ( albeit dumbly and incidentally ) dishonour the Espionage Act .
What he mishandled : firmly to say
How he mishandled them : Allegedly
While Clinton ’s no whistleblower , her site may terminate up having parallels to Former CIA agentive role Jeffrey Sterling .
Sterling , who allegedly shared classified information with a New York Times reporter in the early 2000s , was pilloried entirely on circumstantial grounds . He was never catch leak or mishandling classified documents . Prosecutors argued that track record of phone calls and e-mail between Sterling and the newsman showed that they had talked;they did not show evidenceof Sterling discourse classified data .
As Clinton ’s investigating continues , her political opponents may utilise the successful prosecution of Sterling as a way to go after her , even without hard grounds that she stored electronic mail moderate classified information .
Clinton is also leaning intemperately on the thought that her emails were not classified at the time — leave behind room for possible action that selective information in them could ’ve been retroactively classified later . But as lawyer Jesselyn Radacknoted today , “ retroactively classified selective information figured conspicuously in convicting Sterling . ” Sterling ’s case shows a goggle maw in Clinton ’s defense .
What chance to him : In May 2015 , Sterling was sentence to three and a half twelvemonth in prison .
Whistleblowers like Sterling , Edward Snowden , and Chelsea Manning have find out their life shredded after sharing classified document with newsperson , but leakers are n’t the only masses who can get busted for doing bad matter with top secret intel . We ’ll never hear about most of the mass who bobble classified information . “ Most often , it ’s not engage , ” Bradley Moss , an attorney who specializes in home security cause , told me . “ I handle instance where people fumble classified information all the metre . They just never get prosecute , they ’ll have a security measures clearance branch . ”
That read , if a classified information fumble is scandalous , gross , or politically polarizing enough , it ’ll come out ( and , often , scent up in courtyard ) . Clinton ’s political enemies are foam at the mouthpiece , with House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy ( R - SC)insistingthat Clinton has jeopardize national security . Despite a New York Timesreport to the opposite , Clinton is not face a vicious inquiry .
However , mishandling classified information can carry heavy effectual issue , and just because she is n’t facing one yet does n’t think of she wo n’t . And just because information she pass around was n’t explicitly marked as classified does n’t mean it was n’t classify .
figure : AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite
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