Could you imagine what would happen if this was a random U.S. military commander telling subordinate leaders to send all emails to a non-government email to include classified information?
The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.
The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.
Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” However, it also made clear that Clinton’s use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a lecture during a global knowledge forum in Seoul on Oct. 18, 2017, in this photo provided by the host Maeil Business Newspaper. (Yonhap)
It was an amazing US election to see Donald Trump defy expectations and win the US Presidency over Hillary Clinton. Congratulations to him and his campaign team. His election will definitely be something that political scientists will be talking about for decades to come. By the way I thought his acceptance speech was really good:
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans,” he said.
To countries around the world, Trump said, “While we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone.”
“All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility, partnership, not conflict,” he said. [Yonhap]
Here is what South Korean President Park Geun-hye had to say about the election of Donald Trump:
The commander-in-chief made the remarks during a briefing on the outcome of the National Security Council (NSC) session after Republican Donald Trump won the White House in a hard-fought race against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“Given the United States is our ally and that the South Korea-U.S. relationship has a great impact on our diplomacy, security and economy, I think we need to extensively explore ways to develop close relations with the incoming Trump administration,” she said.
“In light of the grave situation in which North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are growing day by day, I call on you to establish cooperative ties with the incoming U.S. administration early in the stage of the government transition,” she added. [Yonhap]
So what does Donald Trump’s victory mean for the people of South Korea who were deeply against the election of Trump? Here are my quick thoughts on the biggest areas that the ROK should expect possible impacts on:
US-ROK Free Trade Agreement: Due to Trump’s election victory the Korean stock market has tanked. The market tanked because of fears that Trump will want to renegotiate the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement:A key concern is Trump’s “America first” position that includes a preference for trade protectionism.“The market will inevitably face a short-term adjustment if Trump wins,” said Kim Ji-na, a fixed income analyst at IBK Securities. “There’s even a possibility that the 1,900 barrier could fall as Trump’s victory will only raise instability and bring about policy risks.”The bigger concern is that Korea’s economy, which has been facing tough times due to shrinking exports, will suffer heavily.“The Trump victory will not only act as a potential risk for the Korean market but also the global economy,” said Hwang Na-young, a Woori Finance Research Institute researcher. “Once Trump and the Republicans take over, most of the major policies of the Barack Obama years will be reversed: repealing Obamacare, huge tax cuts, easing of financial regulations and a preference for fossil fuel.
“Major changes are likely in regards to trade policies as protectionism deepens on top of an isolationist approach to diplomatic polices.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here are some facts and figures about Korea-US trade from the Joong Ang Ilbo article:
I would be surprised if Trump makes it a priority to go after the US-ROK FTA. Considering the amount of manufacturing jobs brought to the US from Korean car manufacturers it seems the US-ROK FTA is a deal he would want to keep in place. I think his immediate focus will be on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA) which he has been highly critical of.
North Korea Nuclear Issue: I don’t see Trump wanting to make any nuclear agreement with Kim Jong-un considering the country’s past track record of violating the agreements. What I do think he will do is push for more sanctions against Chinese banks and businesses in an effort to pressure the Chinese government to reign in North Korea:
Trump also identified North Korea as a problem for China, not the U.S.
“I would get China to make that guy disappear, in one form or another, very quickly,” Trump said in February on the CBS TV program “This Morning.”
“China has absolute control of North Korea. They won’t say it, but they do. And they should make that problem disappear.” [Korea Times]
Immigration: Any Koreans living illegally in the US and hoping for amnesty should probably forget about that idea happening anytime soon. With that said I do think ironically that with a President Trump an immigration reform deal is more likely because he will try and cut a deal that is not blanket amnesty, but at the same time provides a process for foreign workers to be sponsored to work in the US. This would reduce illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border and possibly allow him to say he does not need to fully build his famous wall.
Conclusion: So those are my quick thoughts on what the election of Donald Trump means for South Korea. I think the biggest impact is that the ROK should expect to pay more for the upkeep of USFK. If not then Trump may begin relooking the US-ROK FTA which South Korea has much more to lose. Does anyone else have any other areas that they foresee that a President Trump will have a significant impact on in South Korea over the next four years? If so please share your opinions in the comments section.
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.
In the latest email leak involving the Hillary Clinton campaign her private views on China have been revealed and it is nothing surprising though I do like her comment about calling the Pacific Ocean the “American Sea”:
Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with then Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Sept. 5, 2012. In emails released by WikiLeaks on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, Clinton said the U.S. would “ring China with missile defense” if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea’s nuclear program.
Hillary Clinton privately said the U.S. would “ring China with missile defense” if the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea’s nuclear program, a potential hint at how the former secretary of state would act if elected president.
Clinton’s remarks were revealed by WikiLeaks in a hack of the Clinton campaign chairman’s personal account. The emails include a document excerpting Clinton’s private speech transcripts, which she has refused to release.
A section on China features several issues in which Clinton said she confronted the Chinese while leading the U.S. State Department.
China has harshly criticized the U.S. and South Korea’s planned deployment of a missile-defense system against North Korea, which conducted its fifth nuclear test this year. But Clinton said she told Chinese officials that the U.S. might deploy additional ships to the region to contain the North Korean missile threat.
If North Korea successfully obtains a ballistic missile, it could threaten not just American allies in the Pacific, “but they could actually reach Hawaii and the west coast theoretically,” Clinton said.
“We’re going to ring China with missile defense. We’re going to put more of our fleet in the area,” Clinton said in a 2013 speech. “So China, come on. You either control them or we’re going to have to defend against them.”
China is North Korea’s economic lifeline and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, and has been criticized by the U.S. and others for not doing enough to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. Chinese officials and state media have responded by saying that North Korea is not solely China’s responsibility, and that Beijing has limited influence with secretive leader Kim Jong Un’s hard-line communist regime.
Clinton also privately criticized China’s position on another sensitive issue, the South China Sea. China claims almost the entirety of the strategically vital waterbody and has lashed out at an international tribunal’s July ruling rejecting its claims.
Clinton told a different audience in 2013 that by China’s logic, the U.S. after World War II could have labeled the Pacific Ocean the “American Sea.”
“My counterpart sat up very straight and goes, ‘Well, you can’t do that,'” she said. “And I said, ‘Well, we have as much right to claim that as you do. I mean, you claim (the South China Sea) based on pottery shards from, you know, some fishing vessel that ran aground in an atoll somewhere.” [Stars & Stripes]
Considering how Trump has repeatedly said that he is going to make Koreans pay more for their defense and increase taxes on imports to protect American businesses is it any wonder why Hillary Clinton is polling so high in South Korea?:
Hillary Clinton meets then-ROK President Lee Myung-bak during her time as secretary of state.
If South Koreans could vote in the U.S. presidential election next month, Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide. More than 8 in 10 would throw their weight behind the Democratic candidate, who is surging in popularity both domestically and abroad, a survey released September 30 suggests.
In the poll of over 44,000 adults in 45 countries from August to September, WIN/Gallup International found that 82 percent of South Koreans would have voted for Clinton as the next U.S. president, compared to 3 percent backing her Republican opponent Donald Trump and 15 percent undecided or declining to answer.
South Koreans were Clinton’s third-strongest supporters behind only Finland and Portugal, which backed her 86 and 85 percent, respectively. The former first lady, senator, and secretary of state found support across the board, with Russia the only surveyed country preferring her business mogul rival and China nearly split on the candidates. [The Diplomat via a reader tip]
Pretty interesting article about Colin Powell’s email that were hacked and released recently. It is amazing he was willing to say these things on email, but here is one of the critical things he says about Hillary Clinton:
“I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect,” Powell wrote to Leeds on July 26, 2014. “A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP).” [Washington Examiner]
Here is what he had to say about Donald Trump:
“Yup, the whole birther movement was racist,” Mr. Powell wrote in one email. “That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim. As I have said before, ‘What if he was?’ Muslims are born as Americans everyday.”
Powell also called Trump a “national disgrace” and an “international pariah.”
This Wall Street Journal article makes a good point, how did the civil service allow Secretary Clinton to get away with using a private email server for so long?:
Forget the new dump of Hillary Clinton emails. Forget the phony claims that the missing communications were all about wedding plans and yoga routines. Forget, too, the many requests from Doug Band in which the Clinton Foundation honcho hoped his quos (hefty donations to the Clinton Foundation) would translate into quids (e.g., special access to the secretary).
Forget them all. The most disturbing aspect about the FBI dump may not be fresh evidence of another Clinton lie. The most disturbing thing about Mrs. Clinton’s continuing email drama may be where she’s telling the truth.
Or at least a half-truth. Mrs. Clinton told the FBI it was “common knowledge” at State that she used private email. Agents further quote her as saying she “could not recall anyone raising concerns with her regarding the sensitivity of the information she received at her email address.”
However unseemly the cashing in of the Clinton family, whatever the trampling of the ethics accord the Clinton Foundation had signed with the White House, even apart from the walking conflicts-of-interests that were Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, the much larger stink here is this: Mrs. Clinton was allowed to spend her four years as secretary of state off the grid.
It isn’t so much that Mrs. Clinton set up a personal server so she would not be accountable the way normal political appointees are held accountable. It’s that no one in government stopped her. [Wall Street Journal]
You can read more at the link, but in the military I have never heard or seen a senior officer use a private email address. If someone did it would immediately raise eyebrows and eventually an IG complaint from someone if it continued.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out because I would think every lawyer in America is now going to try the “Clinton Defense” to defend spilling classified information:
A sailor who pleaded guilty to photographing classified submarine systems hopes to receive leniency by comparing his case to Hillary Clinton’s ongoing e-mail controversy, his lawyers said in a court document.
Petty Officer First Class Kristian M. Saucier, 29, will be sentenced Friday for a felony charge of retaining national defense information. He pleaded guilty in May on the charge that he photographed classified workings of the propulsion system of the nuclear powered USS Alexandria.
The photos taken in 2009 showed parts of the reactor configuration, according to the memo filed last week in support of a probation sentencing by Saucier’s lawyer, Derrick Hogan. Saucier knew the system was secret and prohibited from being documented, but he wanted to show his future family what he did in the Navy, the court filing states. [Stars & Stripes]
