The first question in Wednesday’s Commander-in-Chief Forum came from Navy Lt. John Lester.
“I held a top secret clearance and that provided me access to materials and information highly sensitive to our war-fighting capabilities,” Lester posed to Hillary Clinton. “Had I communicated this information not following protocols, I would have been prosecuted and imprisoned. How can you expect those such as myself who are entrusted with America’s most sensitive information to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security?”
Hillary Clinton speaks during a voter registration rally at the University of South Florida on September 6, 2016 (Getty Images)
Clinton responded by explaining “the distinctions that [she thinks] are important for me to answer [that] question.”
“First, as I said to Matt, you know and I know, classified material is designated, it is marked there is a headers so there is no dispute at all,” she explained. “What we have here is the use of an unclassified system by hundreds of people in our government to send information that was not marked, there were no headers, there was no statement, top secret, secret, or confidential.
“I communicated about classified material on a wholly separate system.”
Clinton reassured Lester that she takes classification “very seriously.”
“When I traveled I went into one of those little tents you may see around the world because we didn’t want to have any potential,” for any type of intelligence leaks.