The NY Post recently reported that Hillary Clinton had been allowing her maid to print out classified emails for her. What really puzzled me though was this passage where the maid had access to a SCIF:
Marina Santos
Santos also had access to a highly secure room called an SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) that diplomatic security agents set up at Whitehaven, according to FBI notes from an interview with Abedin.
From within the SCIF, Santos — who had no clearance — “collected documents from the secure facsimile machine for Clinton,” the FBI notes revealed.
Just how sensitive were the papers Santos presumably handled? The FBI noted Clinton periodically received the Presidential Daily Brief — a top-secret document prepared by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies — via the secure fax. [NY Post]
Unless you are in the military or work with classified information in the government I don’t think most people realize how significant this is. How did the maid have access to a SCIF? How did she even get in? I could only imagine what would happen to a servicemember who brought a random janitor for example into a military SCIF and let them run around and grab documents.
Hmm… I remember a Security Briefing discussing how Bradley/Chelsea Manning had to go through Security to access the SCIF where he downloaded all those files. He took a read/write/rewrite CD in with him, in order to show that he had music on the way in. It seems not many folks checked the CDs on the way out, although quick checks would be “play something” as proof that there was just music on the disks.
Yeah, that’s another MAJOR violation of OPSEC. Which, of course, no one will hold her accountable for…
JoeC
7 years ago
I’m going to throw the BS flag on that story.
No SCIF would have sure trivial access. Even if it was wasn’t under guard, access would be constantly monitored and there would be multiple layers of verification requirements to get in. Entry records would be routinely audited.
It would take some serious effort to set up someone for unauthorized access that went unnoticed. If the FBI became aware of that happening there is no way they could let it pass.
This wasn’t a normal SCIF – it was located at a private residence. I seriously doubt they had a SCIF guard in the Clinton’s house. Or for that matter, cameras mounted inside the house monitoring the outer door of the SCIF – and you can’t have security cameras in a SCIF. This was a special setup for a very high level gov’t official – there are probably only a couple of SCIFs like this (Sec State’s house, Sec Def’s house, and maybe a couple of others). It probably had an X-09 safe lock on the door, and there was probably a cypher lock. My guess is that the X-09 got opened when it was installed and Mrs. Clinton never spun it to lock it after that and only used the cypher lock – which only requires a PIN. So she could give the PIN to the maid and it was easy in – and easy out. Keep in mind – Hillary Clinton is extremely weak when it comes to modern day technology. The extent of her use of technology is an out-of-date Blackberry. She literally doesn’t know the first thing about how to use a computer. To get a good idea of how utterly inept she is when it comes to technology – listen to the Nov 4th episode of “This American Life.” It’s a real eye opener.
“Unless you are in the military or work with classified information in the government I don’t think most people realize how significant this is.”
You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. I’ve gotten into discussions with Hillary supporters and tried to explain the gravity of this, but they look at it like it’s as trivial as driving 56 miles per hour in a 55 MPH zone. I personally know someone who lost his job for a security violation. He would sometimes attend late afternoon meetings, and instead of typing up his classified meeting notes in the office, he would go home and type them up on his home computer, print them out, and bring them into the office the next day. He said he was tired of missing dinner and not being home before his kids went to bed. It was a bad decision on his part. He lost his nice GS pay, his gov’t pension, and his clearance. He now sells real estate.
Tyson
7 years ago
This is like PGH scandal all over again, this time, it’s a trusted maid, not a trusted friend.
PGH isn’t going to get impeached. For starters, there is no vice-president in South Korea. If a president gets impeached, the country has to hold a vote within 60 days for a new president. The liberal party isn’t ready for a quick election and know they might not win (ever heard of a guy named Ban Ki-moon?). So they’ll make a lot of noise and people will go and party … err … protest in downtown Seoul … but at the end of the day – nothing will happen.
And as far as Clinton is concerned – that’s strike two on you.
Guitard is correct about the private residence. I know some people with the same sort of set up.
liz
7 years ago
Thank God Trump won.
Up until a few short months ago, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth (or fingertips). But I’ll say it again, thank God Trump won.
She’s not only criminally incompetent, she was running a money laundering operation with weapons technology via the State Department. We will likely never know the true extent of damage she caused but hopefully now she can do no more.
@Guitard, I agree that she probably had a special SCIF set up in her residence. I bet she just left it unlocked or gave the combinations to the maid to get in and out of to pick up the print outs. I wonder if Clinton gave the made the user information to get on to JWICS to check for emails? I wonder if the Secret Service has any responsibility to report major security violations like this?
Like I said in an earlier post – Clinton doesn’t know the first thing about how to operate a computer. And that’s not partisan political mud slinging – that’s according to multiple sources interviewed by the FBI. Her use of modern technology begins and ends with a Blackberry model (Curve 8310) that has long since gone out of production. One of her aides had to go on eBay to find her a replacement because Blackberry was no longer selling the Curve 8310. According to the NY Post, the maid would print off documents in the SCIF for Clinton and also retrieve secure faxes from the SCIF. So presumably, the maid had Clinton’s login info.
@Guitard, if the maid was logging into SIPR and JWICS in a SCIF with Clinton’s login info, this is far worse than the server issue that has been making all the headlines.
Hmm… I remember a Security Briefing discussing how Bradley/Chelsea Manning had to go through Security to access the SCIF where he downloaded all those files. He took a read/write/rewrite CD in with him, in order to show that he had music on the way in. It seems not many folks checked the CDs on the way out, although quick checks would be “play something” as proof that there was just music on the disks.
Yeah, that’s another MAJOR violation of OPSEC. Which, of course, no one will hold her accountable for…
I’m going to throw the BS flag on that story.
No SCIF would have sure trivial access. Even if it was wasn’t under guard, access would be constantly monitored and there would be multiple layers of verification requirements to get in. Entry records would be routinely audited.
It would take some serious effort to set up someone for unauthorized access that went unnoticed. If the FBI became aware of that happening there is no way they could let it pass.
This wasn’t a normal SCIF – it was located at a private residence. I seriously doubt they had a SCIF guard in the Clinton’s house. Or for that matter, cameras mounted inside the house monitoring the outer door of the SCIF – and you can’t have security cameras in a SCIF. This was a special setup for a very high level gov’t official – there are probably only a couple of SCIFs like this (Sec State’s house, Sec Def’s house, and maybe a couple of others). It probably had an X-09 safe lock on the door, and there was probably a cypher lock. My guess is that the X-09 got opened when it was installed and Mrs. Clinton never spun it to lock it after that and only used the cypher lock – which only requires a PIN. So she could give the PIN to the maid and it was easy in – and easy out. Keep in mind – Hillary Clinton is extremely weak when it comes to modern day technology. The extent of her use of technology is an out-of-date Blackberry. She literally doesn’t know the first thing about how to use a computer. To get a good idea of how utterly inept she is when it comes to technology – listen to the Nov 4th episode of “This American Life.” It’s a real eye opener.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/601/master-of-her-domain-name
“Unless you are in the military or work with classified information in the government I don’t think most people realize how significant this is.”
You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. I’ve gotten into discussions with Hillary supporters and tried to explain the gravity of this, but they look at it like it’s as trivial as driving 56 miles per hour in a 55 MPH zone. I personally know someone who lost his job for a security violation. He would sometimes attend late afternoon meetings, and instead of typing up his classified meeting notes in the office, he would go home and type them up on his home computer, print them out, and bring them into the office the next day. He said he was tired of missing dinner and not being home before his kids went to bed. It was a bad decision on his part. He lost his nice GS pay, his gov’t pension, and his clearance. He now sells real estate.
This is like PGH scandal all over again, this time, it’s a trusted maid, not a trusted friend.
But PGH will get impeached, while Clinton probably get elected.
PGH isn’t going to get impeached. For starters, there is no vice-president in South Korea. If a president gets impeached, the country has to hold a vote within 60 days for a new president. The liberal party isn’t ready for a quick election and know they might not win (ever heard of a guy named Ban Ki-moon?). So they’ll make a lot of noise and people will go and party … err … protest in downtown Seoul … but at the end of the day – nothing will happen.
And as far as Clinton is concerned – that’s strike two on you.
Guitard is correct about the private residence. I know some people with the same sort of set up.
Thank God Trump won.
Up until a few short months ago, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth (or fingertips). But I’ll say it again, thank God Trump won.
She’s not only criminally incompetent, she was running a money laundering operation with weapons technology via the State Department. We will likely never know the true extent of damage she caused but hopefully now she can do no more.
@Guitard, I agree that she probably had a special SCIF set up in her residence. I bet she just left it unlocked or gave the combinations to the maid to get in and out of to pick up the print outs. I wonder if Clinton gave the made the user information to get on to JWICS to check for emails? I wonder if the Secret Service has any responsibility to report major security violations like this?
*cough cough* No election post yet? *cough cough*
😎
Like I said in an earlier post – Clinton doesn’t know the first thing about how to operate a computer. And that’s not partisan political mud slinging – that’s according to multiple sources interviewed by the FBI. Her use of modern technology begins and ends with a Blackberry model (Curve 8310) that has long since gone out of production. One of her aides had to go on eBay to find her a replacement because Blackberry was no longer selling the Curve 8310. According to the NY Post, the maid would print off documents in the SCIF for Clinton and also retrieve secure faxes from the SCIF. So presumably, the maid had Clinton’s login info.
@Smokes, I have an election post up now that took me some time to put together as read through all the Korean news reaction to the election:
https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/11/what-the-election-of-donald-trump-means-for-south-korea/
@Guitard, if the maid was logging into SIPR and JWICS in a SCIF with Clinton’s login info, this is far worse than the server issue that has been making all the headlines.
Makes you wonder if Trump sticks to his guns of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtlFQ4JLzWk