According to new documents released by the State Department as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton never received the highest security training required by the State Department.
The 46 pages of documents released Tuesday show that Clinton’s top aides, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, received the training. According to a Daily Caller report Wednesday morning:
Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, and Huma Abedin, her deputy chief, both completed required training on the handling of “Special Compartmented Information” (SCI) when they entered the department.
A document signed by Mills Jan. 29, 2009, and one signed by Abedin the next day indicated that both officials “Completed SCI indoctrination,” or top-level security training.
Missing from Tuesday’s release was any signed document confirming that Clinton completed the SCI training course.
Classified documents in the SCI category cover some of the nation’s most deeply guarded secrets, including material obtained by U.S. intelligence agencies through signals intelligence, human intelligence and satellite intelligence.
Human intelligence relates to “human assets,” or spies embedded in foreign governments or informants working for the U.S. among “state actors,” such as terrorist groups.
The Daily Caller News Foundation filed its FOIA demand after it was discovered that Clinton’s use of a private email server and a Blackberry device had violated State Department security protocols. They also interviewed U.S. Army Col. Jim Waurishuk (ret.), who oversaw security protocols as deputy director for intelligence at the U.S. Central Command and served on the White House National Security Council staff.
“It’s hard to believe, particularly as it was her first year in office as secretary of state,” he was quoted as saying. “The standard process is you will get all your security indoctrination done immediately upon taking office.
“I don’t care if you’re a GS-1 or a private or a four-star general or president of the United States. You’re going to go through your security indoctrination, particularly in the position of secretary of state.”
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