2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: About Guccifer's new hacking claim [View all]pnwmom
(109,065 posts)And we know that classified documents weren't supposed to be sent either on a .gov account or Hillary's private server.
And we know Hillary used a separate, secure system for transmitting and receiving classified documents.
And whatever this hacker claims to have found on the Clinton server, there has been no evidence put forward, other than Repub rumors based on anonymous sources, that she had then-classified documents there.
http://prospect.org/article/why-hillary-wont-be-indicted-and-shouldnt-be-objective-legal-analysis
Why Hillary Won't Be Indicted and Shouldn't Be: An Objective Legal Analysis
There is no reason to think that Clinton committed any crimes with respect to the use of her email server.
Richard O. Lempert, U MI professor of law
March 20, 2016
What follows reflects the knowledge and experience I have gained from working at the Department of Homeland Security from 2008 until 2011. While there, I took the lead in drafting a security classification manual for one of the divisions of the DHS science and technology directorate. In this discussion, I offer answers to questions about the former secretary of states email that have not been frequently asked, but should be.
SNIP
Does the fact that the classified information was on Clintons personal server rather than a State Department server effect the analysis?
In most ways it shouldnt. While Clintons use of a personal server has, no doubt, harmed her politically, her use of a personal server most likely has little bearing on questions relating to the improper transmission of classified information. Had Clinton not used her personal server for the messages in question, she would presumably have had a personal account on the same system that other Department employees use for State Department business. Neither Clintons personal server nor ordinary State Department systems are properly secured for the transmission of classified information. The one way in which using a personal server might make a difference is that EO 13526 provides, An official or employee leaving agency service may not remove classified information from the agency's control. By maintaining classified messages on her server, Clinton was arguably not complying with this provision. I use the word arguably because lawyers could argue over whether the fact that the State Department never had control of the information on her server meant she could not remove it, but I expect this is an argument Clinton would lose. However, if Clinton is to be believed, she didnt know that classified messages were on her server, and no criminal sanctions attach to violations of this provision regardless.
There is the interesting question of whether the inadvertently transferred classified emails were more or less secure because they were on Clintons server rather than on a State Department server. The FBI investigation may provide an answer. From a distance, it seems possible that Clintons messages were more secure on her server than they would have been on the State Departments servers, even if the latter were protected by a technically superior firewall. The State Departments systems are reportedly regular targets of hackers. Few knew that Clinton used a personal server for business emails, so hacker attacks may have been far less common if they happened at all. Also hackers often gain access to systems by fooling users into downloading malicious programs or clicking on malicious web sites. Since few people had accounts that accessed Clintons servers, the chance that someone might inadvertently open a door to hackers is most likely much less. Finally, after a few months, transactions with Clintons servers were reportedly encrypted. Because of the difficulties posed by the need to accommodate different server and computer generations, the government has lagged behind the private sector in encryption.
I also cannot help observing that it is the party that regularly declares that government doesnt work that tells us that when it comes to computer security we can trust the government more than the private sector to get things right.
SNIP
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