Yeah, I’m still steaming over that Comey statement, with its suggestive opinions and fact-free ominous language.
One pointedly egregiously extra-legal dark comment I’m quoting again from the Times story– “…it was possible that hostile foreign governments had gained access to her account”–bugged me especially (highlight the word “bug” as a pun). Because here I was, reading this article, and thinking, “Wait a sec. How many major hacks of big government agencies have there been in the past few years?” And “How many of those intrusions contained the words ‘Hillary’s emails’?”
My memory regurgitated some big names, like the IRS, the State Department, maybe even Department of Defense, and wasn’t there a huge government agency that had millions of employees’ personal information, including Social Security numbers, stolen? (No, not Target. Target is not a government agency, I don’t believe.)
So, since I’m not a very lazy person, I’ve dug up some stories–hardly all–about all those leaks and hacks and whatevers. And, yes, I was right: the phrase “Hillary’s emails” were not cited. Not once. Until, of course, James Comey spat that out at his news conference.
Hang on to your hats. Here they are, starting with WikiLeaks:
- An online organization wants to combat “unethical behavior” by governments and corporations, but critics say it endangers the privacy of others for the sake of self-promotion. Source: In Disclosing Secret Documents, WikiLeaks Seeks ‘Transparency’ – NYTimes.com (July 25, 2010)
- “I’ve got some stuff you might be interested in.” With that simple message, the biggest leak of government secrets in history was set in motion.Source: How Edward Snowden Leaked “Thousands” of NSA Documents | United States of Secrets | FRONTLINE | PBS (May 13, 2014)
- The Office of Personnel Management suspended its e-mail notifications this week amid protests and warnings they encouraged bad cyber security. Source: Reacting to Chinese hack, the government may not have followed its own cybersecurity rules – The Washington Post (June 18, 2015)
- Every person given a government background check for the last 15 years was probably affected, the Office of Personnel Management said. Source: Hacking of Government Computers Exposed 21.5 Million People – The New York Times (July 9, 2015)
- Source: Newly discovered hack has U.S. fearing foreign infiltration – CNNPolitics.com (December 19, 2015)
- How can U.S. government agencies be better prepared to protect their sensitive data? Source: Why the IRS Was Hacked Again and What the Feds Can Do About It | US News (February 16, 2016)
Did you remember that the NSA actually itself hacked into our military? I didn’t:
- The NSA’s disturbingly successful hack of the American military. Source SLATE, NEW AMERICA, AND ASU: Inside the NSA’s shockingly successful simulated hack of the U.S. military. (March 7, 2016)
- Su Bin admitted to conspiring to hack into defense contractors’ networks to steal military data.Source: Chinese national pleads guilty to DOD hacking conspiracy | TheHill (March 23, 2016)
And for a bit of creditable fact checking demonstrating that there is no evidence at all that Hillary’s emails were hacked. Her private server was apparently much better defended than were government servers. See above. And read below:
- Source FactCheck.org: Partisan Spin on Clinton’s Emails (July 6, 2016)