The two reports are the first formal declarations by U.S. spy
agencies detailing how they believe Clinton violated government
rules when highly classified information in at least 22 email
messages passed through her unsecured home server.
The State Department has already acknowledged that the emails
contained top secret intelligence, though it says they were not
marked that way. It has not previously been clear if the emails
contained full classified documents or only some information from
them.
The agencies did not find any top secret documents that passed
through Clinton's server in their full version, the sources from
Congress and the government's executive branch said.
However, the agency reports found some emails included passages that
closely tracked or mirrored communications marked "top secret,"
according to the sources, who all requested anonymity. In some
cases, additional classification markings meant access was supposed
to be limited to small groups of specially cleared officials.
Under the law and government rules, U.S. officials and contractors
may not transmit any classified information - not only documents -
outside secure, government-controlled channels. Such information
should not be sent even through the government's .gov email network.
The front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president and
former secretary of state has insisted she broke no rules. Clinton's
lawyer, David Kendall, did not respond to a request for comment.
Clinton campaign spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests
for comment.
Two sources said some of the top secret material was related to the
CIA's campaign of drone strikes against Islamist militants in the
Middle East and South Asia.
That campaign has been widely reported by Reuters and other media
outlets, but it officially is classified as a "Top Secret/Special
Access Program" (SAP), meaning only a limited number of people whose
names are on a special list are allowed to learn details about it.
One source said the reports identified some information in messages
on Clinton's server that came from human sources, such as
confidential CIA informants, and some from technical systems, such
as spy satellites or electronic eavesdropping.
The Clinton campaign criticized the State Department's decision last
month to withhold the 22 emails containing top secret information
from the public, blaming it on "bureaucratic infighting" and
"over-classification run amok."
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"As we have previously made clear, we are not going to speak to the
content of the emails," a State Department official said on
Wednesday when asked about the intelligence agency reports.
Clinton's use of a private server in her New York home for her
government work is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the State Department's and spy community's internal
watchdogs and several Republican-controlled congressional
committees.
Two of the sources told Reuters that one of the reports on the
emails came from the CIA. Three sources said the other report came
from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), which
analyzes U.S. spy satellite intelligence.
A spokesman for NGA did not immediately respond to requests for
comment. CIA spokespeople declined to comment.
The two spy agencies' reports were sent to Congress in the past few
weeks by the intelligence community inspector general, an official
government watchdog for multiple spy agencies.
The inspector general's office has confirmed that it requested the
reports from two intelligence agencies, but didn't identify them.
It was unclear what the congressional committees that received the
classified reports, the House and Senate intelligence and foreign
relations panels, will do with them. The contents cannot be
discussed publicly. The committees requested intelligence reports in
connection with their efforts to ensure that government secrets are
appropriately protected.
(Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
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