The letter from a retired naval officer stating how, in his opinion, Hillary Clinton should be treated in the military based upon his personal review of the circumstances of her e-mail server is interesting, but totally irrelevant. (“Email evidence shows Clinton should face charges.”)
The issue is that Secretary Clinton is not in the military and, therefore, not subject to their regulations. Hopefully, anyone who read this letter also read Dana Milbank’s column on the same page, which deals with the circumstances of the incident and its investigation by the appropriate civilian oversight mechanisms. Milbank also recounts actions by GOP Congressional members which should at least raise the eyebrows of anyone concerned with the broader interests of “national security.”
Despite this retired officer’s interpretation, Secretary Clinton has been cleared from further investigation or prosecution by the U.S. Congress, as well as the FBI and Department of Justice.
To be fair to Secretary Clinton, perhaps the letter writer would care to weigh-in on the circumstances of Secretaries Rice and Powell, and how they handled communications while in office on their personal accounts and devices? Or perhaps he could tell us how he would have handled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales taking home classified documents and keeping them in a consumer-grade safe in his home office? And I cannot help but think he would have comments on how Gen. David Petraeus was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor after providing his mistress with virtually all the Top Secret and Classified information in his possession.
The bottom line is that the military does things quite differently than they are done in the civilian world and their personnel are held to strict standards by mechanisms not employed in the outside world. This is undoubtedly a very fortunate thing for many of us. The military can subject individuals to courts martial proceedings for being overweight.
Steve Guinn
Edmonds
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