Retired Gen. David Petraeus is reportedly facing a possible retroactive demotion:
US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is reportedly mulling personally demoting retired four-star general David Petraeus for disclosing classified data. The former US commander in Iraq and CIA Director would then be liable to return hundreds of thousands of dollars of his pension. The ongoing deliberations were confirmed to The Daily Beast by three senior Pentagon officials.
Petraeus, once considered a war hero for the successful US troop surge in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, and even a potential Republican presidential candidate, is currently on a two-year probation, and has paid a fine of $100,000 for unauthorized handling of classified information. Last year, he pleaded guilty to supplying eight notebooks chock-full of state secrets to Paula Broadwell, his biographer, with whom he had an affair.
Petraeus’ crime was sharing classified information with his biographer Paula Broadwell. The FBI found classified material on her computer.
No one has suggested that the classified information on Broadwell’s computer was top secret or of a higher level, such as a Special Access Program.
8-100 Policy
It is the policy of the Department of Defense to use the security classification categories and the applicable sections of E.O. 12958 and its implementing ISOO Directives to limit access to classified information on a “need-to-know” basis only to those personnel who have been determined to meet requisite personnel security requirements. Further, it is DoD policy to rigorously apply the need-to-know principle in the normal course of controlling collateral classified information so that Special Access Program (SAP) controls will be used only when exceptional security measures are required based on threat and/or vulnerability (e.g. sensitivity or value of the information) associated with the SAP. Need-to-know principles shall also be applied within SAPs. In this context, SAPs may be created or continued only on a specific finding that:
a. The vulnerability of, or threat to, the specific information to be protected is exceptional;
b. Normal criteria for determining access to the assigned level of classification are not sufficient to protect the information from unauthorized disclosure;
c. Careful consideration is given to: assessing the vulnerability, the sensitivity of the information to be protected, and the adequacy of needed safeguarding requirements; and/or
d. The establishment of the SAP is required by statute.
You know, like were on Hillary’s server.
In this, Hillary’s actions mimic both Petraeus and Broadwell. Hillary, like Broadwell, stored classified information on her computer. Not just classified, but above Top Secret. Broadwell lost a promotion and was stripped of her security clearance. Petraeus received two years’ probation, paid a $100,000 fine. And his career is toast.
Curiously, Broadwell remains under investigation.
In response to Observer questions about the Post account, U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose described the Pentagon probe differently. She said Army officials involved in the case say no decision has been made about military punishment for Petraeus and Broadwell, and that the Army’s investigation of Broadwell, an Army reservist, continues.
I cannot help but wonder if a decision on Broadwell is being delayed because of the discovery of classified information on Hillary Clinton’s non-secure server. Both committed the same acts. Both the former Deputy Director of the CIA and a former Secretary of Defense agree that it’s highly likely Clinton’s server was compromised. Interestingly, a Huma Abedin email revealed that Clinton refused to use a secure government Blackberry because what passed through it would be subject to FOIA requests.
Clinton has once again resorted to her asinine defense:
“As the State Department has confirmed, I never sent or received any material marked classified, and that hasn’t changed in all of these months,” she maintained. “This, seems to me, to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign. It’s another leak.”
Clinton has been consistently disingenuous about her email scandal. What I am finding exasperating is the absolute failure to ask the right question. Clinton keeps repeating:
“I’m just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department, because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified.”
The Clinton’s are masters of the parse. The information on her server IS and WAS classified. The proper questions?
1. How did this material get onto her server?
As we’ve noted before, there is no direct line from either the DoD or State to Hillary’s server, or anywhere else outside of the government.
2. Someone had to take the classified information from the State intranet, copy it and then deliver it to Clinton’s server. Who?
Let’s not forget that Clinton sent a cable to State employees that said:
“avoid conducting official department business from your personal e-mail accounts.”
We know that Clinton has a history of instructing aides to alter classified documents and strip security headings. All of this leads me to wonder if she didn’t intentionally make the information vulnerable in return for speaking fees and contributions to the Clinton Foundation.
UPDATE: At Least One Hillary Email Contained Info From Clandestine Operations
According to Fox’s Catherine Herridge, two sources familiar with the investigation of Clinton’s private server say that at least one email contained what’s known as “HCS-O” information. That is an intelligence agency code for “HUMINT Control System Operations,” which refers to on-the-ground spy operations.
“The HSC-O compartment (Operations) 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,” reads a memo released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in December 2013.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
@Greg:
She knowingly and willingly put classified information on an insecure server. She knew she was mishandling the information since she signed a statement NOT to do it.
She was not unaware of the classification of the material since it contained classified information… satellite photos, names, Intel and references to foreign governments’ involvement. We also know that she was not above ordering the classification markings to be removed in order to sneak it out.
1340 times (so far) Hillary “did not know” information knowingly and willingly put on her secret, private, unsecured server was classified, according to you, Greg. That’s a lot of misses, Greg. That’s a lot of unawareness. That’s a lot, at the very best, of stupidity, Greg. Is that the President you want?
When she knowingly and willingly put highly classified information on her knowingly secret, unsecured server, she knowingly and willingly made it available to unauthorized persons.
Blumenthal was not authorized, was he Greg? Neither was Guccifer, who hacked the server, revealing its existence. Neither were the Chinese, Russians, N. Koreans or Iranians, whom authorities think it likely hacked the secret, unsecured server. That’s knowingly and willingly making available, Greg.
The folks who support Clinton cannot believe she is innocent. She’s just their kind of criminal–she supports their views on the issues, so anything she does is OK because it’s in the name of abortion and the RIGHT kind of rich corporations, etc.
A person who actually believes Clinton is honest is simply a stupid person. To say that because she hasn’t been convicted of anything is proof she’s honest is to lower the standard for honesty to a ridiculous level. It’s like something a 5-year-old would say when caught stealing change for a candy bar. “It’s not like I was arrested or something!”
Dear God, what fools these liberals be.
Ok, all you Clinton defenders who insist she did nothing wrong….consider this simple question…
As SecState Hillary HAD an automatic secure email system to use, so why did she need to have a private, unsecured email server set up at all? What possible justification could she pissibly have?
The resident troll leaves out the part where everyone with a security clearance must actually secure classified IAW current procedures. Those procedures are developed by the organization handling or originating the secure information. Willfully failing to secure classified information is also a crime! It is no wonder we lost the war in Indo-China with people like our trolls not knowing enough to secure classified information.
@Bill, #51:
No evidence has yet been put forward establishing that there was any classified information on Clinton’s server that hadn’t already appeared in public media. For all we know, e-mails cited that reference classified material may contain nothing more than newspaper or magazine articles that you could easily find online.
There’s an element of circularity to all this that makes me feel like I’m counting laps as a dog chases its own tail. When we get to the end empty handed, we just jump back to the beginning and repeat the original accusations, and off we go on another lap.
As has been pointed out innumerable times, if there were any hard evidence that laws had been broken, those laws would be enumerated and the evidence would be presented. Clinton’s enemies would like nothing better.
As soon as republicans have lost all political traction on this approach—which, judging from the media’s almost total lack of interest, should be very soon—they’ll switch back to Benghazi. The Select Committee on Benghazi investigation is now in it’s 627th day. That single committee, only one of so many Benghazi investigations that I’ve lost count, has cost U.S. taxpayers over $5.7 million, and the meter is still running.
@Greg:
You try hard, just not hard enough. There was classified information on her server that was SO sensitive, the people doing the investigating are not allowed to see it. Does that sound like it has already been published in Time (which would probably be safer than on her server, since no one reads Time)?
Are you telling me that the one instance that we have documented proof that she tried to get an aide remove the classified designations so it could be transmitted to her on an unsecured channel was the ONLY time this was attempted? Are you telling me that the 1340 KNOWN classified items found on her server had all been published previously? Note that much of it STILL cannot be published and is redacted… is this your last line of defense? Cmon, Greg. Really.
The right question is “what size orange jump suit do you wear?”