John Hofmann: Stop pillorying Hillary for ‘systematic’ failures

Re “Clinton broke rules for private email, feds say” (Page 9A, May 26): The teaser information contained on your front-page lead-in (“Feds: Clinton broke rules,” with the obligatory Hillary photo) and the actual article on Page 9A will no doubt contribute fuel in an already pathetic political campaign. Buried in paragraphs six and seven is reference to the report’s “sweeping criticism of the (U.S. State) department’s ‘long-standing, systematic weaknesses’ in the handling of electronic communications, providing Clinton some defense against the criticism.”

As someone who had a top-secret security clearance and worked with highly classified documents while serving for three years in the military (a citizen obligation many years ago), I am appalled at the seemingly cavalier approach to classified materials in Washington D.C. However, the information as presented in your newspaper seems unfortunately skewed to pillory Clinton, a circumstance that appears to have been the norm throughout as this matter re-surfaces over and over again.

The campaign to date has suffered far too much from misdirection. In my opinion, the media should stop contributing to it.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "John Hofmann: Stop pillorying Hillary for ‘systematic’ failures."