By The Iowa Statesman
Tuesday, there were two major developments in the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is looking into the matter, commented on both developments.
The first was a report from the Intelligence Community Inspector General updating the status of classified emails that were found in its limited review of the official documents provided by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after her personal analysis of the content on her private email server. The report, called a “congressional notification,” said two of four emails previously described as “above Secret” were, in fact, classified “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information” level.
Top Secret is the highest civilian classification level for national security information. The SCI designation refers to “need to know” protections placed on the particular information contained on the document. Only those with the proper security classification and who have been granted access to a particular SCI “compartment of information” may read a document with a Top Secret/SCI designation. Documents with Secret clearance may also have SCI designations.
According to the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s congressional notification, the other two emails, which intelligence community officials said were classified by the State Department at the time they were sent, are being reviewed by the State Department to determine what the current appropriate level of classification should be. Asked about the development, Grassley, who has been pressing for more details about the classified emails, repeated his calls for the FBI and State Department to explain the measures each agency is taking to retrieve the classified emails and protect the classified information contained in them.
“I appreciate the Intelligence Community Inspector General providing more information in response to the questions that many members of Congress and the public have regarding the classified emails that were on former Secretary of State Clinton’s private server and on a thumb drive with her private attorney,” he said. “This information revealed by the inspector general makes it even more important that the FBI and the State Department secure these documents. To date, the two agencies most critical to securing this information have failed to assure the American people that they are taking the necessary steps to protect America’s national security interests.”
The second major development was a report that Clinton has turned over her private email server and thumb drives to the Justice Department. Grassley said he was not convinced the server had been only recently handed over, since Clinton’s attorney does not have the security clearance necessary to legally be in possession of the information contained in the emails.
“It’s a welcome development, but it’s hard to believe that the Clinton private server and the thumb drives in the possession of Ms. Clinton’s personal lawyer have just recently been turned over to the authorities,” he said. “That’s a long time for top secret classified information to be held by an unauthorized person outside of an approved, secure government facility. I look forward to the FBI answering my questions so the American people can be assured that everything has been done to protect our national security interests and hold accountable anyone who broke the rules.”
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