Hillary Faces National Security Establishment 'Uprising' Over Emails

[DoD]

Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton is facing an "uprising" in the national security establishment
prompted by long-standing anger about her cavalier handling of classified
materials and government secrets.

As Clinton's case progresses, it appears the probe is being directed by
intelligence and national security law enforcement authorities rather than
civilian agencies subject to political influence, according to a Daily
Caller News Foundation investigation.

There are currently at least four national security investigations,
including those by the FBI, Department of Justice, and the inspectors
general for the Department of State and the Intelligence Community.

"The way I'm reading this is that there's this uprising in the national
security bureaucracies to prosecute Mrs. Clinton," Tom Fitton told TheDCNF.
Fitton is president of the nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch,
which is preparing to depose top Clinton aides and possibly her as well, in
litigation stemming from the State Department's maladroit handling of a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Fitton's group has also won multiple federal court victories regarding
release of 55,000 pages of emails sent to and from Clinton's use of a
private email address and server located in her New York home to conduct
official government business during her four years as the nation's chief
diplomat.

"There's just this kind of 'just-the-facts approach' out of the national
security establishment on this," Fitton told TheDCNF. "I don't see Mrs.
Clinton escaping prosecution here."

Ultimately, the national security division (NSD) at the Justice Department
will decide whether or not to recommend to Attorney General Loretta Lynch
Clinton or any of her aides be indicted.

Virtually all former Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys interviewed by
TheDCNF described the division, which was created by President George W.
Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, as the least politicized division
in the department. Charges of partisan management of other Justice
Department divisions have been frequently lodged during President Barack
Obama's tenure in the Oval Office.


The little-known division is made up of prosecutors who have backgrounds in
military affairs, intelligence, anti-terrorism and espionage. There are no
political appointees among the 400 employees working in the division.


"They are straight arrows, a mission-focused kind of approach," according to
Kenneth Wainstein. He was the assistant attorney general who established the
division in 2006.

"They focus on the mission. They focus on how those agents achieve that
mission, whether it's stopping terrorism or stopping spies. When they walk
into their office, they park their politics at the door," Wainstein told
TheDCNF.

"None of the prosecutors in the National Security Division are going to
approach this with a political perspective," said another former senior
Justice Department official from the Bush junior years. "They certainly are
not going to be worried about it in terms of partisan politics," he told
TheDCNF. The official only would talk on the condition of anonymity.

National Security division prosecutors do things "by the book," said Luke
Dembosky, who left the division earlier this month after a year-and-a-half
as deputy assistant attorney general for the NSD. "They have the utmost
integrity, from the top of the division to the bottom."

Dembosky joined as partner in the Washington law firm Debevoise & Plimpton
LLP as a litigation partner in cybersecurity and data privacy issues after
leaving the Justice Department.

The anger toward Clinton within the intelligence community apparently has
been simmering for years.

In 2009, for example, the National Security Agency (NSA) rebuffed Clinton's
request to use an unsecured BlackBerry for her emails while she was in
"Mahogany Row," the highly secured offices used by all secretaries of state.
The suite is secured as a "Sensitive Compartmentalized Information
Facility," or SCIF, which allows occupants to receive and review the nation's
most important national security secrets.

Clinton wanted to be allowed to use her BlackBerry while handling sensitive
materials in the SCIF, according to emails released Wednesday by Judicial
Watch. She also sought for her aides to have the same privilege. The emails
were obtained via the FOIA.

In a Feb. 8, 2009, email, Donald Reid, Clinton's senior coordinator for
security infrastructure in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic
Security, dourly reported Clinton and Cheryl Mills, her chief of staff, were
"dedicated BB (Blackberry) addicts." He also said Clinton didn't use her
official government desktop computer because she was "hooked" on BlackBerrys
during her 2008 presidential campaign.

The NSA's response in an Information Assurance Directive told Clinton to
"shut up," according to the emails. Clinton and her aides were subsequently
forbidden from using their BlackBerrys in the SCIF office.

The intensity of anger among intelligence community figures became clear
when Gen. Michael T. Flynn, former defense intelligence agency director
under Obama, told TheDCNF in a Feb. 2 interview that "someone who does this
is completely irresponsible, but totally unaccountable and shows a streak of
arrogance to the American public that is unworthy of anyone thinking they
can run for President of the United States."

"This is unbelievable," Flynn added. "I don't think anybody should be
talking about her being potentially the next President of the United
States."

Not all are so sanguine about non-partisanship at the National Security
Division of the Justice Department. There have been concerns about the
impartiality of its head, Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, who was
appointed largely on the recommendations of White House lawyers who
previously worked with him at the FBI and at the NSD.

Carlin was chief of staff to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller from July 2009
to July 2011 and prior to that was deputy chief of staff for seven months.
In the latter position, Carlin worked for Lisa Monaco, who is now in the
White House Counsel's office. Carlin reportedly was nominated over the
objections of then-Attorney General Eric Holder.

Former U.S. Attorney Joseph DiGenova told TheDCNF that, while the division
is non-political, Carlin is a person "who is known to have very political
instincts," somebody who is "extremely political."

A 2013 Foreign Policy article by Shane Harris said the White House influence
over Carlin was troubling to many Washington lawyers.

"There should be some walls between the Justice Department and the White
House. The White House should not have a direct feed," said an unnamed
former government official who didn't support Carlin's nomination.

Harris, who is now with The Daily Beast, wrote Carlin's close relationship
with top lawyers in the White House counsel's office "has created an
impression among many national security lawyers in Washington that Carlin is
the White House's inside man at the Justice Department."
Still, Carlin has supporters from the Bush administration. In a December
2013 letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 11 former Justice
Department officials expressed "strong support" for Carlin, saying, "he
understands the importance of building consensus, while at the same time
pursuing the objectives that he believes are right and in our national
interest."
Among the signers of the letter were former Attorney General Michael Mukasey
and Bush's former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.

Wainstein told TheDCNF he believes it's unlikely the White House will
overrule an indictment approved by the NSD. "There are very strict lines
that prevent the White House from 'interfering' with a particular case," he
said.

Read more:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/16/hillary-faces-national-security-establishment-uprising-over-emails/#ixzz43AhmR8yz