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| Home Front: WoT |
| It's much worse than I imagined. |
| 2016-03-19 |
| The documents, though redacted, detail a bureaucratic showdown between Ms. Clinton and NSA at the outset of her tenure at Foggy Bottom. The new Secretary of State, who had gotten "hooked" on her Blackberry during her failed 2008 presidential bid, according to a top State Department security official, wanted to use that Blackberry anywhere she went. That, however, was impossible, since Secretary Clinton’s main office space at Foggy Bottom was actually a Secure Compartment Information Facility, called a SCIF (pronounced "skiff") by insiders. A SCIF is required for handling any Top Secret-plus information. In most Washington, D.C., offices with a SCIF, which has to be certified as fully secure from human or technical penetration, that’s where you check Top Secret email, read intelligence reports, and conduct classified meetings that must be held inside such protected spaces. But personal electronic devices--your cellphone, your Blackberry--can never be brought into a SCIF. They represent a serious technical threat that is actually employed by many intelligence agencies worldwide. Though few Americans realize it, taking remote control over a handheld device, then using it to record conversations, is surprisingly easy for any competent spy service. Your smartphone is a sophisticated surveillance device--on you, the user--that also happens to provide phone service and Internet access. As a result, your phone and your Blackberry always need to be locked up before you enter any SCIF. Taking such items into one represents a serious security violation. And Hillary and her staff really hated that. Not even one month into the new administration in early 2009, Ms. Clinton and her inner circle were chafing under these rules. They were accustomed to having their personal Blackberrys with them at all times, checking and sending emails nonstop, and that was simply impossible in a SCIF like their new office was. This resulted in a February 2009 request by Secretary Clinton to NSA, whose Information Assurance Directorate (IAD for short: see here for an explanation of Agency organization) secures the sensitive communications of many U.S. Government entities, from Top Secret computer networks, to White House communications, to the classified codes that control our nuclear weapons. The contents of Sid Blumenthal’s June 8, 2011 email to Hillary Clinton--to her personal, unclassified account--were based on highly sensitive NSA information. IAD had recently created a special, custom-made secure Blackberry for Barack Obama, another technology addict. Now Ms. Clinton wanted one for herself. However, making the new president’s personal Blackberry had been a time-consuming and expensive exercise. NSA was not inclined to provide Secretary Clinton with one of her own simply for her convenience: there had to be clearly demonstrated need. And that seemed dubious to IAD since there was no problem with Ms. Clinton checking her personal email inside her office SCIF. Hers, like most, had open (i.e. unclassified) computer terminals connected to the Internet, and the Secretary of State could log into her own email anytime she wanted to right from her desk. But she did not want to. Ms. Clinton only checked her personal email on her Blackberry: she did not want to sit down at a computer terminal. As a result, NSA informed Secretary Clinton in early 2009 that they could not help her. When Team Clinton kept pressing the point, "we were politely told to shut up and color" by IAD, explained the State security official. There is a lot more at the link. It's a bit more than personal convenience or simply not wanting to 'sit down at a terminal.' What the Beest wanted and got was a separate server and system support apparatus which was not connected to US Government Information Operations network or its pesky security, oversight, and FOIA access. In the final analysis, if one is ever published, the mishandling of classified documents will likely pale in comparison to her financial misdeeds in support of the Clinton Foundation. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #6 I suspect that President wosshisname can get by with the Blackberry because he's only the figurehead. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-19 14:34 |
| #5 I think a lot of this shit is sprinkled liberally (ha!) with falsehoods in order to make the Hildabeast look more reasonable... "look, I wanted a secure thingey like everyone else, but they wouldn't give me one!" |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-19 14:33 |
| #4 When the collapse comes, people are going to start looking for politicians, pitchforks, and lampposts. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-03-19 10:43 |
| #3 ..and that's why you need a patron to protect you and your interests. Other groups have had theirs for years. You need to start shopping. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-19 10:18 |
#2
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| Posted by: Beldar Glomose5585 2016-03-19 07:29 |
| #1 Jail is too good for her and her cronies. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-03-19 00:10 |