Wes O’Donnell
inmilitary.com
Op-Ed by Wes O’Donnell, Managing Editor InMilitary.com, Veteran, US Army/ US Air Force
In 2009, Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier snapped six photos of the highly classified propulsion system of the attack submarine USS Alexandria. In a defense filing last week, Saucier’s attorney stated that Mr. Saucier simply wanted a record of his time on the sub in order to “one day show his family and future children what he did while he was in the Navy.” However, despite the fact that there was no ill intention, the retention of classified defense information is itself a violation of U.S. law and a felony.
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Right about the same time, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, by her own admission, used her private email address, housed on a private server located in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home, to perform State Department business. Because she didn’t use the government system, the department didn’t have her emails on hand when the House Select Committee on Benghazi asked to see them. According to Politifact.com in 2014, Clinton’s lawyers combed through the private server and turned over about 30,000 work-related emails to the State Department and deleted the rest, which Clinton said were about personal matters.
On July 5, 2016, FBI Director James Comey recommended no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of classified information while she was secretary of state. One of the primary reasons given on why the Justice Department will not prosecute Secretary Clinton is that they found no evidence that Clinton “intended to be disloyal to the United States or that she intended to obstruct justice.”
A very dangerous precedent has been set. Using the Justice Department’s own argument, we can expect to see a number of cases citing the FBI’s recent recommendation not to charge Hillary Clinton as a defense against felonies like this.
And in fact, Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier pled guilty to one felony charge of “retaining national defense information without permission.” However, he is asking for probation without jail time in lieu of the standard 63-78 month prison term. The reason? Just like Hillary, and citing the FBI’s decision, he states that he had no intention to be disloyal to the United States.
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In our justice system, “citing” other courts’ opinions are standard practice and used quite often in criminal cases like this and social matters like Roe v. Wade. If this sailor’s defense holds up, we may be in a new era of classified information management.
In our system of checks and balances, a system that was carefully crafted by the Founders, accountability must be maintained, no matter what the position an individual holds within the government. If any one individual is above the law, then the whole system breaks down.
Let’s work together as a nation to ensure that our system’s integrity is maintained. Violations of the law should be prosecuted. If a particular law is found to be antiquated or faulty, we have a system in place to change the law. Until then, we must enforce with no differentiation between the president and a citizen.
What do you think? Is the “Hillary Defense” valid?
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of American Military University or its affiliates & partners.
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http://inmilitary.com/hillary-defense-now-used-others-avoid-jail-time/