Yesterday my colleague Charlie Cooke ably outlined the ways in which Hillary Clinton’s power insulates her from accountability in a scandal that would have long-since brought mere mortals to their professional knees. Because she’s powerful, the Department of Justice is reluctant to “to pull the trigger on a prosecution” that could be deemed political. She thus enjoys a privilege not afforded to the average peon.
We see Clinton’s life of privilege, but what’s life like for the peon, for a person who isn’t the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and arguably the most powerful woman in politics? How are peons taught to handle classified information? What happens to peons when they don’t safeguard the nation’s secrets?
I should know, because I’ve been one of those peons, living under the classification regime. I’ve sat through training session after training session on the extreme care that must be taken with classified information, and I’ve helped conduct investigations of people who fail to properly handle such information. To protect our nation’s secrets and to safeguard the lives of service-members, allies, and intelligence assets, peons are forced to live a life very different from Clinton. Peons make binding promises, peons take precautions, and peons face punishment.
Life for a peon is much different, the rules apply to them, not high level people in all parts of Government. The Pentagon is notorious for allowing General and Admirals retire when they get into trouble. General Petraeus is a rare exception.
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