U.S. Marine Major discharged for sending classified information via a personal email

A Navy leader upheld the decision to discharge U.S. Marine Major Jason Brezler from the Marine Corps. Brezler was found to have mishandled classified information when he sent a warning of a possible attack to other Marines in Afghanistan from a personal email address.

Major Brezler’s intent was to save the lives of his fellow Marines. Was his sharing classified information via a personal email account any different from Hillary Clinton having a personal email server with classified information on it?

It appears the system is rigged to protect the politically powerful, while a U.S. Marine is held accountable. Is there a double standard?

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U.S. Marine Major Jason Brezler (left) in Afghanistan.

In a column titled “Marine who warned of insider attack to be discharged” Gina Harkins, Staff writer for the Marine Corps Times reports:

A lawyer for a Reserve Marine being forced out of the Marine Corps for mishandling classified information vowed to appeal the Department of the Navy’s decision to uphold the involuntary discharge, calling it “obvious retaliation.”

In a case that gained widespread notoriety, Maj. Jason Brezler, a civil affairs officer who had returned stateside, shared classified information with colleagues in Afghanistan in 2012 in an attempt to warn them about a suspected Taliban conspirator. Brezler’s fears proved well-founded two weeks later when an insider attack in Helmand province claimed the lives of three Marines.

Michael Bowe, the lawyer representing Brezler, told Marine Corps Times they learned via email Monday of the decision to uphold the separation. The decision, first reported by The Washington Post, was made by Scott Lutterloh, the acting assistant Navy secretary for manpower and reserve affairs. Made official on Nov. 24, the decision comes more than three years after Brezler was investigated for sending a classified document from a personal email account. [Emphasis added]

Read more.

United States Code: Title 18. Section 2071:

(a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record filed…in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

(b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today issued the following statement following reports that the U.S. State Department is reopening its investigation of the mishandling of classified intelligence by Hillary Clinton and her top aides:

“I am glad that the State Department has heeded the concerns I and nine other senators raised earlier and is reportedly reviewing the status of the security clearances of Hillary Clinton and her top aides, given their ‘extremely careless’ handling of classified information. There’s no question they should all lose their security clearances if they are still active. The State Department now needs to show that it will not let politics interfere with its investigation and that any State Department employee who mishandles classified information will be punished regardless of their rank. No one should be above the rules when it comes to protecting our nation’s secrets, not even the Secretary of State or her top aides. I look forward to a complete response to the questions we raised in our letter to Secretary Kerry about the Department’s handling of this matter and a swift resolution of this case.”

RELATED ARTICLES: 

The Shoddy Legal Reasoning Used to Clear Clinton

Judicial Watch Seeks Testimony of Hillary Clinton

FBI Director Undermines the Rule of Law

Comey’s FBI Helped Convict Navy Reservist who “Handled Classified Materials Inappropriately”

2015: DOJ Prosecutes A Naval Reservist For Mishandling Classified Info WITHOUT MALICIOUS INTENT

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image of Major Jason Brezler in Afghanistan is by Cpl. Albert Hunt/Marine Corps.

6 replies
  1. Barbara Vaughn
    Barbara Vaughn says:

    How come this government always gets it backwards? Or, I should say, how come this administration always punishes the military person or private citizen and lets the criminal and/or colossally inept liberal dem go free?

    Reply
  2. Matt Bruce
    Matt Bruce says:

    Fact of the matter is his name didn’t end with the word “Clinton.” That mystique has been around the American Political scene for over 30 years & it still remains today. Kind of reminds me of the “Kennedy” name but Bill, Hillary & Chelsea are NO “Kennedy” and they certainly didn’t live in ‘Camelot’. See YOU on the radio: http://thecaptainsamericathirdwatch.com

    Reply
  3. Mike
    Mike says:

    While in the Marine Corps, I held a TS clearance and handled all levels of classified material, I was instructed about the perils of mishandling classified messages and the potential consequences. After leaving the Corps, I started my career in LE, first as a Texas State Trooper, later as a Federal Agent, finally retiring after almost 30 yrs with the USG. I was posted overseas twice, working out of US Embassies, where I sent/received classified material, from (C), to (S), to (TS). Prior to receiving my clearance for such messages, I went through an intensive security clearance/background investigation. Then I underwent several training sessions during my entire time with the USG, prior to having access to classified messages, where again, I was thoroughly trained on how to/how not to, handle classified material, along with the serious charges that I could face if I mishandled even one message. Had I done a smidgen of what Clinton was reported to have done, I would be rotting away in a federal detention facility. So I ask, as many have before me, Is our system so dysfunctional that certain people, like high-level politicians, those in the good graces of the current administration, do not have to obey the laws of this land, while the “common” people are dealt with harshly; either as a deterrent to others of what will NOT be tolerated of the peons, or to counter-balance the many elites who manage to evade the Rule of Law? it is a disgrace. I lived overseas 11 of my last 14 years with the USG, our great nation is becoming another Third World country, like the ones I used to work in. This is disgusting, disgraceful, and shameful on the international scene.

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] last week, my good friend, Dr. Rich Swier, also a retired Army field artillery Colonel, wrote, “A Navy leader upheld the decision to discharge U.S. Marine Major Jason Brezler from the Marine […]

  2. […] last week, my good friend, Dr. Rich Swier, also a retired Army field artillery Colonel, wrote, “A Navy leader upheld the decision to discharge U.S. Marine Major Jason Brezler from the Marine […]

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