When Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, she was issued the highest possible security clearance known as "Top Secret/Special Access" and, as such, she would have had to sign a new SF 312. Following are some highlights of that Standard Form with regards to the use of her email server:
"Intending to be legally bound, I hereby accept the obligations contained in this Agreement in consideration of my being granted access to classified information."Also:
"I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of classified information by me could cause damage or irreparable injury to the United States or could be used to advantage by a foreign nation. "We know from the Inspector General's Report that she violated "unauthorized retention" because she never once sought authorization for her email server. Additionally, from the FBI report we know that she and her aides were "extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information" which was, again, a violation of her SF 3121 agreement covered by the statement "negligent handling of classified information by me could cause damage or irreparable injury to the United States". Additionally, she agreed that she may be prosecuted for violations of this agreement and lose her security clearance.
But, more importantly, the FBI report said this:
"From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information."
"...seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. These chains involved Secretary Clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails from others about the same matters. There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation."This completely contradicts her claim that she never sent or received emails that were classified at the time they were sent or received.
In my opinion, Secretary Clinton grossly violated her sworn responsibilities in the handling of highly classified information. And, now, she gets a pass on any charges? Apparently, her signed agreement is as worthless as her word. All this does -- along with the Inspector General's Report -- is reinforce the fact that she is a serial liar and incompetently reckless with the nation's secrets. But, also, this shows that the FBI's integrity has been compromised. Could we expect anything less from the pseudo-most-transparent Obama Administration?
Lastly, by rights, Hillary Clinton and her staff should lose whatever security clearances they now hold. Of course that won't happen since you can't have a potential President that can't even read the lowest level of classified materials. But, does America really care?
References:
SF 312: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT: https://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/new_sf312.pdf
The State Department inspector general contradicts several of Clinton's long-standing talking points: http://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/ig-report-on-clintons-emails/
Transcript: Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Use of a Personal E-Mail System: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b.-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clintons-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system
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