Don’t Trust Democrats With Secrets and Email Tech
Now Bernie Sanders and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
Playing fast and loose with secrets — national and otherwise — is only a problem for Democrats if political enemies do it because that’s when the rules matter. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is in hot water with the Democratic National Committee after his staffers accessed voting data compiled by the Hillary Clinton campaign. As part of its service to the candidates, the DNC keeps a database of potential Democrat voters (and you thought they didn’t want to keep track of illegal immigrants). Each candidate’s campaign can access the data, and add their own information and firewalls to keep the candidate’s own research secret from the others. During scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, a Sanders staffer accessed the data of the campaign of the heiress to the Democrat nomination. In this age of data-driven campaigns, this was a huge no-no. The DNC blocked Sanders’ access to the data until there was assurance that all of the ill-gotten information was destroyed. Maybe Sanders just wanted his fair share.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that the Party of Clinton played fast and loose with sensitive information. Regarding that email scandal, a recent review from the intelligence community confirmed (despite State Department protests) that at least two emails containing information that was top secret — the highest classification level — passed through Clinton’s server. Meanwhile, Obama Defense Secretary Ashton Carter admitted Wednesday that he too used his private email account to communicate about official business. Think about it: The cabinet member heading up the defense of the nation was using unsecured email. Amazingly, Carter kept using his private email for at least a full two months after Clinton’s email habits were discovered and roundly criticized. It seems that Democrats — and especially those in the Most Transparent Administration in History™ — have a systematic problem with following the rules.