Letter: Clinton’s email still raises questions

I read with interest the article by Blaine Lotz in that it provided me with information that I had questioned myself about relative to the classification of documents received by Hillary Clinton.

I am familiar with this process as I served as the “Security and Classification Control” officer while in the military. As I recall, all messages received were (as Blaine states) classified by the “originator,” and this classification was “typed” at the top of each message. The first item that the receiver of the message saw was its classification, so there could be no misunderstanding as to the classification. Blaine confirms this in stating “Other originators, like me, were the individuals responsible for this classification.”

One can only conclude that this classification had to appear on the document.

Blaine states that “Clinton has indicated that none of the emails on this personal account were marked as classified when she received them, or when, in some cases, she forwarded them to others.” Blaine further states, “It was not Clinton’s responsibility to examine the emails she received to make certain they were properly classified.” It is not a matter of proper classification, but the fact that the originator had already determined the classification. This leads one to ask, Did the individuals to whom Clinton forwarded her emails have the proper clearance to receive these emails?

Finally, how does Blaine Lotz know for a fact that “Clinton did not knowingly receive or transmit classified information,” as he concludes in his article?

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Clinton’s email still raises questions."