
FBI: Hillary Clinton Didn't Know 'C' in Emails Meant Classified - nwrk
http://gizmodo.com/hillary-clinton-had-11-blackberrys-while-secretary-of-s-1786108731
======
jrmg
Here's what the FBI report
([https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3039030/Hillary-C...](https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3039030/Hillary-
Clinton-FBI-Investigation.pdf)) actually says:

 _The FBI identified three e-mail chain, encompassing eight individual e-mail
exchanges to or from Clinton 's personal e-mail accounts, which contained at
least one paragraph marked "(C)," a marking ostensibly indicating the presence
of information classified at the CONFIDENTIAL level. The emails contained no
additional markings, such as a header or footer, indicating that they were
classified. State confirmed through the FOIA review process that one of these
three e-mail chains contains information which is currently classified at the
CONFIDENTIAL level. State determined that the other two e-mail chains are
currently UNCLASSIFIED. State did not provide a determination as to whether
any of these three e-mails were classified at the time they were sent.

When asked about the e-mail chain containing "C" portion markings that State
determined to currently contain CONFIDENTIAL information, Clinton stated she
did not know what the "(C)" means at the beginning of the paragraphs and
speculated it was referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order. Clinton
identified tied a "CONFIDENTIAL" header and footer (inserted in the document
by the FBI prior to the interview) and asked if the "(C)" related to the
"CONFIDENTIAL" header and footer. Clinton did not believe the content of the
e-mail was classified and questioned the classification determination. When
asked of her knowledge regarding TOP SECRET, SECTET, and CONFIDENTIAL
classification levels of USG information, Clinton responded that she did not
pay attention to the "level" of classification and took all classified
information seriously._

~~~
djur
Thank you. Gizmodo's article is grossly misleading, starting with its 100%
inaccurate title ("C" doesn't stand for "classified"). This makes their
terrible "Facebook is censoring conservatives" story look like Pulitzer
material.

------
Claudus
I've been in the computer security industry for decades, 20 years ago I did
intrusion detection and computer network security for a large government
location as part of a team of about 12 people. I referred people to the
Inspector General for prosecution when they attacked our networks.

I am really shocked at the level of incompetence here. Even 20 years ago we
had 300,000 to 450,000 probes and hack attempts on that one network alone, on
a weekly basis. It seems almost certain that her emails were compromised.

Destroying them is inexcusable, at the very least those records could have
been used to determine what data had been potentially compromised.

I can't imagine what went on at the State Department where this kind of thing
could happen. And, it isn't just Hillary Clinton who is guilty here.

I remember the first day after my security clearance and background checks
completed, they spent several hours explaining security policies to me; that
felony charges would be brought against me if I walked out the gate with so
much as a hard copy of an internal email. I only had the lowest level of
clearance for "classified" of "confidential" and even then only as was
relevant to performing my job. There were entire buildings in our complex that
had "secret" data, and only certain members of our team could investigate
those systems for potential intrusions.

Even at that level, when you work with potentially classified material, the
default behavior is to act is if all information is classified. If you want to
published, or release information, it needs to checked and approved, even if
it's not sensitive, just to be sure.

The only excuse I can possibly imagine, is that the clintonemail.com server
was actually an elaborate ruse to leak misinformation to foreign actors.

~~~
cm2012
Remember that all of the classified information on the server was either not
classified at the time or was 1 of 3 incorrectly marked classified emails.
Also remember the official state server at the time was also confirmed hacked.

~~~
EdSharkey
But, why was she moving any State-related content off government computers?
Why would she put herself and others at risk like that? These weren't all
personal emails she was sending - she was discussing State department business
with the foundation and with her trusted operator, Sidney Blumenthal.

Worst of all is how sloppy everyone involved in this fiasco has been. I feel
bad for Obama, what a cluster!

> Also remember the official state server at the time was also confirmed
> hacked.

Look, clearly Hillary engaged in unsafe IT practices. Could it be she was
phished? Maybe she was the one who enabled the hack!

~~~
ascagnel_
Simple: the NSA refused to give Clinton the same secure BlackBerry setup they
had provided President Obama.

~~~
EdSharkey
Has she claimed this anywhere in testimony? The reason I heard given was she
needed a way to send emails of a personal nature.

That reason and the one you've given sound like a dodge.

Fact is, if she even tangentially admitted to knowingly transmitting
information _marked_ confidential off State networks (which she did), she'd be
guilty of multiple crimes and none of her friends could save her. She would be
frog-marched off to the hoosegow. Hence, the endless excuses, waving-off, and
feigned ignorance.

The drip, drip, drip of damning evidence will continue and to save her skin
all she can do is shrug absent-mindedly.

------
greenyoda
The "C" designation actually means "confidential", which is one of the levels
of classification, the other common ones being "secret" and "top secret".

"[Confidential] is defined as information that would 'damage' national
security if publicly disclosed"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information_in_the_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information_in_the_United_States#Levels_of_classification_used_by_the_U.S._government)

~~~
rdtsc
> The "C" designation actually means "confidential"

Good point. Though original quote still makes sense as "Confidential" is a
classification level. So (C) does mean classified, as does (S) and (TS)

------
cm2012
Doubtless this article will be flagged and removed. But I'll put in my 2 cents
before then.

Only 3 of the 30,000+ emails had these markings. The C marking in the body on
its own is not a proper or common method of classification. Comey said that
missing this was entirely reasonable in his explanation. This is a non story.

~~~
5555624
It's not a method of classification, it's a way to mark what is classified
(and at what level) and what is not. While I have never sent/received
classified email, in the past, I have dealt with classified Navy message
traffic. Markings like (C), (S), and (TS) were "portion marks" and marked
subjects, paragraphs, etc. throughout the message. (U) is used to mark
portions which are unclassified (in a classified message).

------
aftbit
Clinton took deliberate and illegal action to hide her emails from FOIA. She
either told bald-faced lies during a federal investigation, or she was too
stupid to deserve to keep her security clearance. And now she will probably be
the Commander in Chief of the USA.

It kinda makes me miss Bush.

~~~
archgoon
> It kinda makes me miss Bush.

You mean how they knowingly and willfully revealed that Valerie Plame was a
CIA agent as payback against her husband who had written an article critical
about the basis for the Iraqi War?

~~~
oh_sigh
Any indication Bush was involved in that, and not just Armitage?

------
EdSharkey
The state department is so twisted up in intelligence-related operations. She
was read in and briefed on all these classified operations. She was the
SECRETARY of STATE: the top of the food chain.

I roll my eyes at the excuses given for all her money/power related moves
while at State, especially when she could have compromised our agents or moles
with her carelessness. She was abysmal as top diplomat (russia reset, all for
cratering Syria, Libya and Egypt governments, Benghazi CIA cluster f-). And
the whole thing with the Clinton Foundation and her "private"
(ClintonEmail.com) email server is icing on the cake - just stinks of pay-to-
play, pure greed.

She's going to win the presidency, not go to jail or ever be impeached, and
she's a terrible person. All that is acceptable to me because Hillary Clinton
is just one of those problems that is out of my control.

------
dmfdmf
It doesn't matter. Ignorance of the law and all that... but I suppose that
only applies to us little people.

~~~
archgoon
The law is worded as "knowingly and willfully". This situation is a decent
argument for incompetence, but in that case, she isn't criminal.

~~~
dmfdmf
What "law" are you talking about? Because I was referring to the general, long
established rule that ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking the
law. Try your "knowingly and willfully" argument with a cop or with the IRS
and see how far that gets you. It doesn't work that way and you know it, they
proceed with the ticket or the tax + penalties and the courts back this
procedure up. The point of my comment is that Clinton broke the law and
mishandled classified information. Anyone who accepts that responsibility has
to accept the consequences, even if they "didn't mean it", of failing to
protect the info.

~~~
djur
Some crimes are defined by intent. Look up "mens rea". It's what distinguishes
manslaughter from murder, for instance. Federal law distinguishes between
accidental mishandling and intentional leaking of classified material. The
former is what Hillary Clinton did. The latter is what Edward Snowden and
Chelsea Manning did.

~~~
dmfdmf
I am aware of such distinctions but these legal classifications are defined to
determine the appropriate punishment not to let someone off the hook. If you
killed someone because you lost control of your car in the rain on bald tires
you don't get a pass because you "didn't mean it". Comey made a recent speech
and basically said the evidence shows that Clinton violated the laws regarding
the handling of classified material but we aren't going to charge her. If it
was due to incompetence or brain seizures or an honest mistake or selling out
her country for financial gain, these are separate questions apart from the
fact that a crime was committed and that she did it (or was complicit).

~~~
djur
That isn't true. Most crimes require mens rea of some kind. This can include
intent (I'm going to kill that guy with this brick), recklessness (I'm going
to toss this brick out the window, who cares if it hits anyone), negligence
(I'm going to put this teetering pile of bricks on the windowsill over a busy
street, hope nobody knocks it over), and some others.

This is true of all kinds of common crimes. If you accidentally enter the
wrong house, it's not trespassing. If you accidentally pick up your friend's
phone instead of your own, it's not theft. If you get in your car and drive
away without realizing a strange kid had gotten into the back seat, it's not
kidnapping. These are all acts that only become crimes if the person doing
them has a "guilty mind".

"Ignorance of the law is no defense" does not speak to intent or mens rea at
all. Mens rea is "officer, I hit that guy with my car because I hit a patch of
black ice and skidded out of control". An attempted ignorance defense is "I
didn't know it was against the law to hit someone with my car." Similarly, "I
didn't know this material was classified" and "I didn't know it was illegal to
distribute classified material" are very different arguments.

~~~
ascagnel_
Another important caveat is that Clinton, as far as we know, hadn't intended
to leak or otherwise share classified information. While the server may not
have been up to State Department security standards, it was not there with the
intent to disseminate classified material to anyone without clearance.

------
SCAQTony
If you presume everything she told the FBI was true then she was woefully
incompetent to be a Secretary of the state and should not be allowed near the
oval office.

If some or all have proven to be lies then she should have been indicted.

------
Shorel
AKA the Bill Gates defense.

------
michwill
It means "Clinton"

~~~
kalleboo
Maybe she thought it was the MSN "coffee" emoticon?
[http://neowin.s3.amazonaws.com/forum/uploads/post-32224-1119...](http://neowin.s3.amazonaws.com/forum/uploads/post-32224-1119483807.gif)

