We cannot have a president who puts our national security at risk
October 5, 2015
If you have seen the news recently, you may have heard about the newest scandal involving the Clintons. This time, it involves Hillary and her wiping of a private email server on which she received government emails. The scandal has spurred debate on both sides of the political aisle, jokes on Facebook, and gag gifts such as a wiped email server with Hillary’s picture available to purchase off of Rand Paul’s campaign site (now only $59.95).
Issues have been raised by both Republicans and Democrats about what classified emails, if any, were present on the server. Through her website, Clinton maintains that no classified emails were sent to or viewed through the server, and that “after reviewing a sampling of the 55,000 pages of emails, the Inspector Generals have proffered that a small number of emails … did not contain any classified markings and/or dissemination controls.” However, she also mentions, “The State Department has said it disagrees with this assessment.” Just from Clinton’s website, an obviously subjective source, we can see that there is some form of discrepancy between agencies, and stories. In fact, the New York Post says that several months into the scandal, Clinton has only been trying to get away with excuses like, “‘There’s no evidence of that’… and answering questions with laughter.”
She claims her use of the private servers was for convenience. However, Shawn Henry, a retired executive assistant director for the FBI, said in an interview that the U.S. government has three different enclaves, one for top secret, one for secret, and one for unclassified, and those servers are available–you can access them from anywhere just like you can through a private email server. So, as it relates to convenience I don’t know what the inconvenience would be using the U.S. government servers.There seems to have been no reason for this, and while she may not have had sinister intentions when she created it, there are certainly suspicions as to what went on during any email conversations sent from that server.
Whatever the case, Clinton has not seemed to take the scandal seriously. At the very least, she has shown a cavalier attitude towards the scandal and the controversy surrounding it, and either is not worried about the potential effects it will have on her campaign, or is and hopes voters will forget the matter. The Post article goes on to explain that she also claims that the charges are baseless and being used by opponents to gain ground in the primaries. She claims that there is no chance that any foreign hackers hacked into the server and, as mentioned above, it did not have any classified information on it. However, until recently, we were only able to take her word for it, and the Federal government is not exactly known for being the most trustworthy agency.
According to a USA Today article, the investigation was “kicked into higher gear after intelligence agency officials determined that top secret information had indeed passed through the private email account.” The fact that Clinton continues to deny these allegations shows a negligence that is not suited for a would-be White House candidate. While we cannot legally do anything until the results of the investigation are made available, we need to understand how big of an issue this scandal is. Clinton’s actions, which on her website she maintains were legal at the time of her tenure, could have serious ramifications on the security of our country. If any information leaked to China, Russia, or especially North Korea, it could be disastrous for the U.S. For example, one of the most secure weapons programs, the Manhattan Project, still had classified information leaked, which eventually led to the USSR acquiring nuclear weapons and the tensions that started the Cold War.
This issue is not partisan. Whether a Democrat or a Republican, one should understand that this is a national security issue, and an American issue. Do we, as a nation, want someone who potentially mishandled classified materials and opened us up to espionage leading this country? We cannot, in good conscience, let this go unnoticed. We have a duty, as citizens of this country, to hold our leaders accountable, whether they are a city council chief or the Secretary of State.
