Letters to the editor for Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016

Clinton lacks standard of trust

Trust. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines that word as: Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. The last seven years of my employment was spent as an Industrial Security Analyst with Northrop Grumman in San Diego. In that position I was responsible for the proper handling of all the Classified Information on the Joint Strike Fighter Program. In that job I obtained a TS/SAR (Top Secret/Special Access Required) security clearance. I processed the paperwork submitted by management for engineers they wanted to work on the program.

The one thing that I stressed to everyone who applied was the importance of being honest in filling out the forms. A lot of issues can be adjudicated positively to obtain a security clearance, but being dishonest or leaving out information would result in denial of the clearance.

It has become very clear to anyone with a fair and open mind that Hillary Clinton is not an honest or trustworthy person in how she has dealt with classified information. She opted for “convenience” instead of following the security procedures and policies that are in place for the proper handling of classified information. Were she any other citizen who was working on a classified program, she would have had her security clearance terminated.

There has been a lot of talk of criminal behavior in her actions, but that is not the standard for obtaining or retaining a clearance. The standard is “trust” or the lack thereof. She is lacking.

David Knighton

Carson City