By Major Van Harl
United States -(AmmoLand.com)- Parts of the following story are from hearsay. I knew who the Air Force captain was, that was involved, but I did not know him personally.
This happened while I was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska twenty plus years ago. I will call him Captain Elmendorf. Captain Elmendorf worked in the classified world of the Air Force and had a Top Secret clearance. One day while picking up a stack of paper work to take home to work on, inadvertently a classified file got stuck to the bottom of his pile.
He had not checked out the classified file from a secured file case, and did not know the file was on his desk (allegedly). It was winter so when he got home he drove his vehicle into his garage. He removed the stack of paperwork from his car and temporarily sat it on a shelf in his garage. When he removed the stack, the classified file was left on the shelf. He never knew it was there, he never knew he had the file and since he did not check it out he never missed the file (again allegedly).
Fast forward, he moves out of his home and a retired Army Soldier moves in. The Soldier finds the file and reports it to the Air Force. Captain Elmendorf was put under investigation and eventually was punished with an Article 15, which in the civilian world equates to a misdemeanor conviction. He did not go to jail, but I understand he got passed over to Major, when promotion time came around.
In the military if an officer does not make Major he/she does not get to stay for a twenty year retirement. If you don’t stay for twenty you do not get any retirement money.
This was actually briefed to me because I was an Air Force cop and was having a review of my Top Secret clearance. I think the reviewing officer was trying to make a point to me just how sensitive my clearance was, and how easy it would be for me to ruin my military career if I screwed up the handling of classified material. When I was on active duty, all Air Force officers had at least a secret clearance. There was always the unspoken threat that if your professional or personal life became to suspect, than your clearance might just get pulled temporarily or even worse, permanently.
With no clearance you cannot do your job, and no one will trust you, even if it is not your fault.
Now if you are under investigation for mishandling of classified “what-ever” then they start looking at the people you work with, and work for. All of a sudden your classified issues become a whole lot of other people’s classified problems, and no one wants your suspected classified failings to taint them and their career. You cannot really blame them, but no one will stick out their professional neck for your classified problems.
I have been talking to old friends both still in the classified game, or retired out of that world, and they all understand what Hillary Clinton has done. She allegedly has gone beyond the unauthorized release of Top Secret classified information into the world of ultra classified Special Access Program (SAP). In the SAP classified world violators can go to prison for life, depending on the information and the reason for that information being released.
I will tell you who is going to suffer for this–they are the “little people” of the US State Department.
The classified world does not just apply to Americans in uniform. It applies to the federal civilians who work for any and all US government agencies. There has to be many low-level and some senior State Department employees who are not getting much sleep at night for what they were required to do, involving the wrongful transferring of classified material, again allegedly at the direction of Clinton and her senior staff. While the FBI may not be getting their hands on Hillary’s server in her home, I am sure they have been knocking on underlings doors.
These scared “little people” have not been saying “no” to the FBI or any other agencies that are investigating this (here we go again, allegedly) classified violation.
If a four star General had done what Hillary is alleged to have done, that General would be long gone, and many in his chain of command would have also suffered. It is a fact that in war time and peace, people have died when classified material was compromised—go look up the tragic story of the USS Scorpion (https://www.ammoland.com/2014/04/russians-killed-her-they-will-kill-more/).
One person, Captain Elmendorf, involving classified material had his military career destroyed for something that most likely was not his fault, while another person allegedly involved in a vastly enhanced classified scandal, with possible life threatening conditions, gets to run for President of the United States.
Is there a glass ceiling in the classified world, and did Hillary shatter it, or just shatter the safety of our nation?
Major Van Harl USAF Ret. / [email protected]
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” [email protected].
Nobody mentions the millions of emails Bush deleted from a private server. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Folks, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say nobody will be held accountable.
Just like the people at the IRS who did not do their jobs properly,
same for the people at the Veteran’s Administration, they too walked away.
I was a Nuke engineer driving the missiles around the oceans of the world and had a Top Secret clearance. Readers Digest version. I rode the telemetry ship for the Gold Crew to shoot a test missile and was briefed by a PIO(Public Information Officer) along with several news reporters. I learned accuracy, range, nuclear warhead capacity, etc. I was shocked because all we were ever told about the Polaris missile was that it’s name was Polaris and it was a Missile. On the return trip I was enlightening my shipmates with my new found knowledge which was overheard by… Read more »
Apberusdisvet,
One phrase explains all the considerations: Democrat brokered convention.
Should Bernie Sanders pick up enough delegates in the southern primary states, this is a real world possibility, lending heavily to wards probability.
The reason is clear: at a brokered convention, Bloomberg would have much greater power, I still would biting, or Warren, and none of them would have to spend the big time dollars, to almost instantly create infrastructure needed to run for president as a part of the primary system.
So allow me to repeat, Democrat brokered convention.
Dr. SL, Don’t bet on it, the winds of change are once again blowing their wistful in odiferous way across our nation. Hillary will win the primary and handily: the Democrat political machine will have it no other way. The only scenario, in which this crowning of Hilary could possibly come off the rails, is if Bernie manages to actually make political headway in the south, enough so that he has sufficient delegates to make trouble at the convention. What we can have then, is the real world possibility of a Democrat brokered convention. Should a Democrat brokered convention become… Read more »
I’ve had the same sort of conversation with many Hill and Bill supporters. The answer I get is indicative of those who have never worn the uniform, “at this point what difference does it make”. “Rule of Law” means nothing.
Hill and Bill are but a couple of sociopaths.
Jesse Scott: This is the kind of remark that is completely irrelevant and adds nothing to the discussion. Your personal opinion of her appearance has nothing to do with her handling of classified information.
As an AF NCO with a job requiring Top Secret, SCI clearance, I can tell you that the validation process is lengthy, and you are scrutinized very closely every step of the way after! We who earned the “access”, knew the risks and implications of mishandling or “leaking” information that was extremely sensitive to operations and the security of the nation. HillaryDillaryDock could care less about such matters because her “cover” in the White House gave her a “security Blankie”. Unfortunately, she will never feel the hands of justice for her wanton acts of tyranny, because that too would bring… Read more »
American politicians like Hildabitch need to learn that nobody is “above the law”.
They should be under the MOST scrutiny.
Another reason that Shrillary may never see the inside of a federal prison is that they cannot find enough orange sailcloth in the supply system to drape her incredibly broad ASSets.
The Hilda Beast will not have anything happen to her any more than the White House racist authorized for the also racist then Attorney General to the black Panthers who messed with voters in the 2008 election and so much more. There is no justice in the criminal justice system any more than there is in this current White House. If anyone thinks that our country is NOT in the dumpster of time and it is nearly too late to pull it out-they are on cheap drugs.
Well, the real problem is that the Hillary situation is a double edged sword for Obama; problems if Lynch indicts (I’m sure Hillary has some juicy blackmail, like the phony birth certificate), or if the DOJ doesn’t (imagine the outrage from the US population). Something has to be done prior to the March primaries, to allow either Biden or Blumenthal to enter the race.
Hillary has not been arrested or indicted because she is a big player, and the other big players don’t want a precedent set. And that is because they are doing every thing that Hillary is doing and more.
With all the alleged criminal activities and the proven illegal activities and the Benghazi lies about why no protection, why the attack and no attempt at rescue, it seems nobody has the balls to explain why this incompetent bitch has not been arrested like others if in any of multiple similar situations. Why did the FBI or your Aunt Fannie let that lying no good keep the server with probable classified info? Why did the DoJ allow that lying no good to escape indictment? Because she is a Clinton? That hardly seems to be a reasonable answer. Inquiring minds want… Read more »
Gads, when you look at that fat cow you know why billy had to cheat.
If a Republican Secretary of State had done what hillary did, that person would already be in prison.
In the first few weeks of Navy Boot Camp the Handling of Classified Material was explained to us in no uncertain terms and that we would be making small rocks out of big rocks in Leavenworth if we screwed up. I am going to be way beyond P#ssed if she escapes Prosecution.
Kim Jong Hillary will probably never see the inside of a cell, although Huma may go down. (Oops, sorry for the pun.) Enough has been leaked with the approval of the Obama administration to keep her from winning the primary, however.