Ex-officials prosecuted for mishandling gov’t info see ‘double standard’ in Clinton case

[EdinVA]

This administration has charged more people under the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law once used to go after major breaches, than any other in history. While the FBI is looking into Clinton's server amid revelations of state secrets potentially passing through it, some critics -- including those charged under that act -- doubt the Democratic presidential candidate will get the same treatment.

"It's a double standard," said John Kiriakou, a former CIA counter-terrorism operative who spent two years in federal prison and three additional months under house arrest this year for leaking the name of a covert CIA official involved in "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Clinton is not accused of leaking. But the common thread in these cases is the handling of classified material. And the slow-moving arc of the email scandal -- marked by a trickle of revelations along with a web of evolving explanations -- stands in stark contrast to past cases where leakers and whistleblowers were punished aggressively.

Kiriakou, one of those defendants, sees different treatment for the Democratic powerhouse who led the State Department.

"The FBI is going to investigate [Hillary Clinton], but it is not up to them," he told FoxNews.com.

"If they [the FBI] want to charge Hillary Clinton with a crime, they can certainly find a crime with which to charge her," he added. "But there is no way the Obama administration is going to prosecute her. No way."

Thomas Drake, a former NSA official who after 9/11 went to Congress to sound the alarms about what he called unconstitutional surveillance, also says there is a double standard when it comes to applying classification law.

"I got hammered good," Drake told FoxNews.com.

Though the government's Espionage Act case against him fell apart in 2011, Drake practically lost everything and faced a mountain of legal bills. He pleaded to a single misdemeanor for "exceeding authorized use of a government computer," a violation he compares to "spitting on the NSA sidewalk."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/17/officials-double-standard-in-clinton-email-scandal/?intcmp=hpbt1