From an unclassified email account, Brezler sent a classified message to warn his fellow Marines in Afghanistan about an Afghan police chief who was potentially corrupt. One of the allegedly corrupt police chief’s servants opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle 17 days later, on August 10, 2012, in an insider attack, killing three Marines and wounding a fourth.
Brezler is still in the Marine reserves, and currently works full time at the New York City Fire Department. Though he faced no criminal charges, he received a fitness report, an assessment of whether a soldier is fit to continue service, which could potentially end his military career.
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) wrote then-Commandant Gen. James F. Amos about Brezler’s case, asking whether it was appropriate to be so strict in dealing with Brezler, since the officer reported himself and intended to warn other Marines of potential danger.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) determined there were 100 classified documents on a personal, unsecured hard drive and thumb drive that Brezler voluntarily turned over. In December 2013, an NCIS board of inquiry recommended that he be removed from service, after prosecutors claimed he was purposefully building a library of classified information to publish in a book.
Brezler’s case has been stalled, following his move to sue the service in 2014. His attorney, Michael J. Bowe, plans to use the Clinton email scandal "as one of the many, and most egregious examples," of the harshness of his client’s treatment.
FBI Director James Comey announced Tuesday that, while Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified materials was "extremely careless," he did not intend to bring criminal charges against her, as the evidence was not sufficient to prove criminal intent. Clinton turned over 30,000 emails to the State Department, 110 of which contained information that was classified at the time it was sent. Comey had claimed that only "a very small number" of them bore some indication of being classified. His findings stand in contrast to Clinton’s claim that none of the information that was transmitted was classified. Clinton used multiple private servers, besides one in her New York home, making it difficult for FBI investigators to sift through all the materials.
