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Remember this: if you are a run-of-the-mill State Department staffer or a military servicemember and you put classified material on a non-classified network, yo

Remember this: if you are a run-of-the-mill State Department staffer or a military servicemember and you put classified material on a non-classified network, you might go to prison. Even high-ranking government officials have gotten in serious crap over classified material mismanagement--GEN Petraeus did this and lost his job as a result.

x0x0 12y ago
And proceeded to get the biggest sweetheart deal in the world from the feds. It's a miracle they didn't offer him a sex act to go with his plea. Unless you believe some random asshole who shares TS/code word info with a mistress and repeatedly lies to the fbi normally gets the feds to give him a misdemeanor and suggest probation. One law for you and me, one law for them. https://www.popehat.com/2015/03/03/a-few-comments-on-the-david-petraeus-plea-deal-what-money-and-connections-buy-you/ https://www.popehat.com/2015/03/03/a-few-comments-on-the-dav...
CHY872 12y ago
Yeah, but it's absolutely apples and oranges. Petraeus didn't just break this rule, he broke others too and became a bit of an embarrassment. With your run-of-the-mill service member, it's more a culture of indoctrination - you train people to never make moves that could be perceived as exfiltrating data so that then if anyone makes them you have better evidence that they're exfiltrating data. I think that when there are allegations being applied of a double standard, it's important to ask why the double standard is being applied. In this case, I think it's pretty fair to assume that a Secretary of State might well have a good reason for a double standard to be applied. It could be that a staffer gave bad advice, or that she'd received advice from security people. Certainly I could believe that she'd be better able to vet her people than the state department. This seems to be a bit of a political crushing, though.

x0x0 12y ago

And proceeded to get the biggest sweetheart deal in the world from the feds. It's a miracle they didn't offer him a sex act to go with his plea. Unless you believe some random asshole who shares TS/code word info with a mistress and repeatedly lies to the fbi normally gets the feds to give him a misdemeanor and suggest probation. One law for you and me, one law for them. https://www.popehat.com/2015/03/03/a-few-comments-on-the-david-petraeus-plea-deal-what-money-and-connections-buy-you/ https://www.popehat.com/2015/03/03/a-few-comments-on-the-dav...

CHY872 12y ago

Yeah, but it's absolutely apples and oranges. Petraeus didn't just break this rule, he broke others too and became a bit of an embarrassment. With your run-of-the-mill service member, it's more a culture of indoctrination - you train people to never make moves that could be perceived as exfiltrating data so that then if anyone makes them you have better evidence that they're exfiltrating data. I think that when there are allegations being applied of a double standard, it's important to ask why the double standard is being applied. In this case, I think it's pretty fair to assume that a Secretary of State might well have a good reason for a double standard to be applied. It could be that a staffer gave bad advice, or that she'd received advice from security people. Certainly I could believe that she'd be better able to vet her people than the state department. This seems to be a bit of a political crushing, though.