Earlier this week, Fox News reported Hillary Clinton’s emails contained information from the most secretive, classified sources. Their report was based on a letter obtained from the Intelligence Community Inspector General, Charles McCullough III.
Fox News exclusively obtained the text of the unclassified letter, sent Jan. 14 from Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III. It laid out the findings of a recent comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified “several dozen” additional classified emails — including specific intelligence known as “special access programs” (SAP).That indicates a level of classification beyond even “top secret,” the label previously given to two emails found on her server, and brings even more scrutiny to the presidential candidate’s handling of the government’s closely held secrets.
Blown off as an attack by the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, Clinton’s campaign ignored the specific accusations outlined in the OIG’s letter.
Friday afternoon, Fox News reported classified information in Hillary’s emails exposed intelligence from human spying.
According to Catherine Herridge and Pamela K. Browne of Fox News (Again, the report is long, but recommended reading. This is an excerpt):
At least one of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s private server contained extremely sensitive information identified by an intelligence agency as “HCS-O,” which is the code used for reporting on human intelligence sources in ongoing operations, according to two sources not authorized to speak on the record.Both sources are familiar with the intelligence community inspector general’s January 14 letter to Congress, advising the Oversight committees that intelligence beyond Top Secret — known as Special Access Program (SAP) — was identified in the Clinton emails, as well the supporting documents from the affected agencies that owned the information and have final say on classification.According to a December 2013 policy document released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence: “The HSC-0 compartment (Operations) is used to protect exceptionally fragile and unique IC (intelligence community) clandestine HUMINT operations and methods that are not intended for dissemination outside of the originating agency.”It is not publicly known whether the information contained in the Clinton emails also revealed who the human source was, their nationality or affiliation.Dan Maguire, former Special Operations strategic planner for Africom, told Fox News the disclosure of sensitive material impacts national security and exposes U.S. sources.”There are people’s lives at stake. Certainly in an intel SAP, if you’re talking about sources and methods, there may be one person in the world that would have access to the type of information contained in that SAP,” he said.It is not known what the impact was on the source, nor the findings of a damage assessment by the agency that controlled the source.Separately, Fox News has learned that the so-called “spillage” of classified information is greater than the “several dozen” emails identified in the January 14 letter to Congress, which also acknowledged for the first time, that the Clinton emails contained intelligence beyond Top Secret, also known as Special Access Programs (SAPs).The source said that the “several dozen” refers to the main or principal email thread identified by reviewers, not the number of times that classified information was forwarded, replied to or copied to people who did not have a “need-to-know” using unsecured communication channels — in this case a personal server. More than one Special Access Program was affected.
Complying with a court order, the Department of State is reviewing and releasing all 55,000 pages of emails Hillary turned over. The reader may remember Hillary determined which emails ought be submitted to the State Department and claims to have deleted the rest.
Friday afternoon, a government attorney filed a motion to request an extra month before releasing the next, scheduled document dump. Their reasons? They forgot other agencies needed to review the emails. Oh yes, and snow.
Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner writes:
State Department officials are asking for an additional month to complete a review of the final batch of Hillary Clinton’s private emails for release.In court documents filed Friday, the State Department said it unintentionally “overlooked” the need to send a number of Clinton’s emails to other agencies for review and would need more time to complete those “consultations.”However, the agency said the process of asking other agencies to look over more than 7,000 remaining pages of emails will be “interupted by the storm” and delayed the release of the rest of the emails until Feb. 29, a full month after a federal judge originally ordered the emails to have been posted online.The State Department is releasing all 55,000 pages of Clinton’s emails through a Freedom of Information Act filed by Jason Leopold of Vice News. Leopold’s attorney said Friday he “vigorously opposes” the requested delay.
For those counting, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina all have caucuses and/or primaries during the month extension requested by the State Department.
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