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United States News Title: FBI Seizes Four State Department Servers in Clinton Email Probe FBI Seizes Four State Department Servers in Clinton Email Probe Probe focusing on how classified information was sent to secretary of state BY: Bill Gertz The FBI has seized four State Department computer servers as part of its probe into how classified information was compromised on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email system, according to people familiar with the investigation. The four servers, which were located at the State Department’s headquarters building, were seized by the FBI several weeks ago. They are being checked by technical forensic analysts charged with determining how Top Secret material was sent to Clinton’s private email by State Department aides during her tenure as secretary from 2009 to 2013, said two people familiar with the probe. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation. State Department spokesman John Kirby referred questions about the computer servers to the FBI. An FBI spokeswoman, Carol Cratty, declined to comment. No other details about the servers, including whether they are part of the department’s classified system, or used for unclassified information networks, could be learned. A spokesman for the Clinton campaign did not respond to an email request for comment. Clinton has offered varying explanations for her use of a private email server, initially claiming she had done nothing wrong. Then, under pressure from critics, she said she was sorry people were confused by the practice, later admitting in early September that her use of a private email system had been a mistake. The State Department uses two separate networks, one for classified information and one for unclassified information. The two networks are kept separate for security reasons. Most classified networks are equipped with audit systems that allow security managers to check who has accessed intelligence or foreign policy secrets. The FBI is trying to determine the origin of the highly classified information that was found in Clinton emails. However, the task is said to be complicated because those with authority to create classified information have broad authority to label information in one of three categories: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. The FBI is primarily concerned with trying to determine how Top Secret information made its way on to the private server. Chris Farrell, an investigator with the public interest legal group Judicial Watch, said the State Department has been reluctant to describe the nature of its computer networks as some of the 16 Freedom of Information Act lawsuits the group has filed make their way through the courts. Farrell said in an interview that the department also has been unwilling to say whether the private email system, used by Clinton and close aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, should be considered an official State Department network covered by FOIA laws. Farrell said the seizure of the four State Department servers is likely part of the forensic investigation underway by the FBI into hardware used by Clinton and her aides to send email to the private server. “In the midst of what I believe to be a forensic examination of the hardware that [Clinton lawyer David] Kendall surrendered on behalf of Mrs. Clinton, any serious national security investigation would seek to track all emails inbound and outbound,” Farrell said. “If they are doing that tracking of email since she was secretary of state, then they would be looking at any email that could have crossed into a State server.” The servers were part of the State Department bureau of information resource management. The bureau helps the department “to successfully carry out its foreign policy mission by applying modern IT tools, approaches, systems, and information products.” In addition to improving efforts of “transparent, interconnected diplomacy,” the bureau is “focused on enhancing security for the department’s computer and communications systems.” The FBI probe of State Department servers is the latest disclosure on the criminal investigation into the private Clinton email server that has embroiled the leading Democratic presidential candidate for several months. The FBI took possession of Clinton’s private email server last summer after classified information was found in some of the more than 30,000 emails Clinton turned over to the State Department. The investigation began after I. Charles McCullough, the intelligence community inspector general, reported to Congress Aug. 11 that Clinton’s private emails included some highly classified information labeled “Top Secret//SI/TK//Noforn.” Information classified at that level is deemed by the government to be very sensitive, requiring strong security protections because its compromise would cause grave damage to U.S. national security. The politics surrounding the probe prompted FBI Director James Comey to tell reporters last week that the bureau will not be influenced by politics. “One of the main reasons I have a 10-year term is to make sure that this organization stays outside of politics, and if you know my folks, you know that they don’t give a whit about politics,” Comey said, adding that the FBI has devoted sufficient resources and personnel so that the Clinton email probe can be completed in a timely way. Those remarks were the first official confirmation of the investigation. The State Department contacted Clinton’s lawyer, David E. Kendall, seeking additional emails that were not part of the more than 30,000 emails provided to the department earlier, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday. The private email server was discovered by the legal public interest group Judicial Watch in late 2014 after the State Department informed the group that it had discovered a new tranche of records. Judicial Watch currently has at least 16 lawsuits related to State Department and other government records. The email server material then became the focus of House investigators looking into Clinton’s handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi in 2012. The House investigation of the Benghazi attack was attacked by Clinton this week after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), the frontrunner to be the next House speaker, said the Benghazi probe was part of a political effort to diminish Clinton’s presidential prospects. Clinton seized on the comments in a New Hampshire town hall meeting this week. Asked if she would have investigated a member of a Republican administration amid charges of improperly using a personal email account and server, Clinton said, “I would never have done that.” “Look at the situation they chose to exploit to go after me for political reasons, the death of four Americans in Benghazi,” she continued. In a sign of increasing worries about the probe at the Clinton campaign, the New York Post reported that an unidentified legal aide to Clinton has advised her to hire a criminal defense lawyer. The number of communications regarded as classified is about 400, according to the latest State Department release of emails. Three of the new emails released last month were marked secret, including emails relating to Iranian nuclear talks. Security analysts have voiced concerns that foreign hackers may have breached the private email server. One theory is that Clinton aides who were cleared for access to national security secrets first read classified reports on State Department information system and then “gisted” the material into private emails for Clinton. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told the New York Times that none of the candidate’s aides had mishandled classified information. “She and her team took the handling of classified information very seriously, and at home and abroad she communicated with others via secure phone, cable, and in meetings in secure settings,” Merrill said. The State Department has confirmed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) in a related development that Clinton currently holds a security clearance for Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information, the highest-level security clearance. The department said Clinton’s clearance was “revalidated” after she left office in 2013 and was done so as part of a standard practice allowing former high-ranking officials to be granted access to secrets. Critics in Congress have called for Clinton’s clearance to be revoked based on the compromises involved in her use of the private email system. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 38.
#3. To: nolu chan (#0)
Now THAT may work when she is cleared of any 'wrong doing.' They revoke her clearance and that becomes a campaign issue for her after the nomination. Then again the 47% won't care or won't know what it means to have a security clearance revoked. Then again Barry Oh received a clearance and half of life is 'missing.' If a CPT in the Army had Barry Oh's background they would not get a TS clearance. Maybe a secret.
Because she is NOT actively on duty, she has no active clearance. Because she is running for President; the office has no requirement about having any clearance at all. Your point is moot.
Critics in Congress have called for Clinton’s clearance to be revoked based on the compromises involved in her use of the private email system. Her TS clearance is still valid. Revalidated in 2013. Which means her next periodic review is 2018. She may be read off certain programs but I doubt that. Former Sec of State keep their read on to "help" consult the sitting Secretary. Part of the government's grey beard program. That was why Sandy Berger was allowed access to classified data during the 9/11 hearings. Which he stuffed some in his socks and underwear.
NO, her clearance is not valid; it queued based on past access but suspended for any activity. Irrespective of clearance classification there is a "need to know" requirement. She can't have access to diddly squat.
Buck, you are just wrong and red is right. A security clearance does not authorize one to access anything. It makes one eligible to be authorized access to a certain level of material by the responsible official. No official can just up and cancel or revoke a security clearance. There are due process rights and a procedure that must be followed. That does not mean you get to continue to access classified information. That always depends on the letter of access authorization. An authorization letter may specify certain caveats in addition to the classification level. Examples would be SCI or COSMIC. They can revoke or cancel an access authorization. When one leaves their job requiring access to classified material, their access authorization is normally canceled. Their clearance is not affected. If they are going to a new job or command, they need a new access authorization letter at the new location before they can access anything classified. In the case of high level officials, such as Hillary Clinton, this is not normally the case and they continue to be eligible to access classified information, as permitted by the responsible official(s). The probability that Hillary still has her clearance is a virtual certainty, as is her ability to access classified information.
Chan - you are full of shit as is usual. Clinton has no access to any classified data as private person irrespective of her past rank in government and/or clearance. She is not "priviledged" at all unless her confidential data is provided by conspirators ffrom within the US government; that is why the FBI probe is long and arduous about the matter. She has no need to know anyhing irrespective of past clearances. Just so you know, that is the reason for a government debriefing when she left her post as Secretary of State.
She is not "priviledged" at all unless her confidential data is provided by conspirators ffrom within the US government; that is why the FBI probe is long and arduous about the matter. She has no need to know anyhing irrespective of past clearances. Just so you know, that is the reason for a government debriefing when she left her post as Secretary of State. Actually, not only does Hillary have access, her lawyer was granted access as well, for all the information stored in his safe. Nothing about the FBI investigation is long and arduous because of her clearance. She has an active clearance. Just because you forget, she was never debriefed when leaving State. The requisite form does not exist in her records. Work on that short term memory Buck.
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