Life in a SCIF

"I may not know much in this world, but I do know about working in a SCIF. Lots and lots of time spend in a room with no windows and a locked door."

I know a bit about working in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). I spend a good part of my military career being in one. Sometimes I loved it, other times I hated it. I think I hated it most on beautiful summer days, when going into a SCIF meant living and working in something like a cave. 

If you like rules, working in a SCIF is the place for you. And that brings up why I am writing about this in the first place. It is not to tell you what I did in a SCIF, as most of it was classified and I swore an oath not to divulge. I also signed an agreement on how to be a custodian of any classified information I came in contact with. And that oath was very clear. It was crystal clear what the remedy and punishment would be should I violate that oath.

Just a bit more background on a SCIF. They are not all created equal. They have to be accredited by the NSA. And every SCIF is accredited to handle up to certain levels of classified information. The higher the classification, the more stout the SCIF needed to be. And the more rules surrounding the safeguarding of that classified information. For example, to properly care and safeguard a document which is Top Secret Code Word, which has a "need to know" list of only 12 people worldwide, would required a SCIF which looked something like Fort Knox.

It has been discovered that in the blizzard of classified e-mails that Hillary Clinton illegally stored on her home server, one of those was such an e-mail. It is so sensitive that Congress was not allowed to see even a redacted version of it. When I was in the Navy, if one, just one low level secret document got stuck in my briefcase and made it home with me, I would have been in big trouble. Nothing classified, and I mean zero, na-da, nothing, is ever to leave a SCIF unless it is going to another SCIF. Period.

So I watched a bit of the debate last night. I watched somewhat bemused. Both the socialist and the progressive railed against the fact we have two Americas. One for the well connected, and the other America is for the little guy. Well I am one of the "little guys". One of the guys who followed the rules. It seems however, that Mrs. Clinton lives on the other side of the street. The side of the street (or the America) where rules don't apply. Where you can walk free as a bird even though you committed a serious felony.

I still have faith in my country that this breech of security will not go unpunished. That Hillary Clinton will be charged with a crime. That she will NEVER be able to hold a clearance again. Time to go Hillary. You blew it. You should never, ever be able to see the inside of a SCIF again.