In was an interesting coincidence that as the Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough III was writing to the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence committees, among others, that Hillary Clinton had above-top-secret SAP (Special Access Programs)  information on her private email server, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the Daily Beast reports, is preparing to demote Gen. David Petraeus, former CENTCOM commander and CIA chief for mishandling similar SAP information while in uniform.

The cases are almost identical, but Petraeus admitted his crime, apologized for it and paid a fine. Now the man who is arguably the most significant American general since World War II, who achieved a victory in Iraq that President Obama threw away, is going to be publicly humiliated and his reputation permanently tarnished. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, whistles past her own graveyard, escaping punishment thus far for exposing our most classified secrets to foreign enemies on an unsecured server in her private residence. As Fox News’ Catherine Herridge noted in her blockbuster report:

According to court documents, former CIA Director David Petraeus was prosecuted for sharing intelligence from special access programs with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell. At the heart of his prosecution was a non-disclosure agreement where Petraeus agreed to protect these closely held government programs, with the understanding “unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention or negligent handling … could cause irreparable injury to the United States or be used to advantage by a foreign nation.” Clinton signed an identical non-disclosure agreement Jan. 22, 2009. 

The IG’s letter should place Hillary Clinton squarely in violation USC 18 Section 793 of the Espionage Act, which covers “gross negligence” in the handling of such information. Ironically, during her recent debate with Democratic-Socialist Sen, Bernie Sanders, Clinton made a statement that could come back to haunt her and be her political epitaph:” There should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too big to jail.”

Indeed, she should not be too big to jail, for while Petraeus gave his mistress a sneaky peak at information he brought home in his briefcase, Hillary placed America’s most secret information on an unsecured server, information that that has no doubt been already obtained by foreign hackers, As Breitbart News has reported:

Hillary Clinton used the company Internap as the internet service provider for her private email account during her tenure as Secretary of State. Internap, based in Atlanta, has a facility in Manhattan, near the  physical location of the IP address for clintonemail.com.

In March 2011, the security company RSA was hacked. The hackers got into the company’s system through a malware-infested email sent to an employee, then installed a “backdoor” and stole data. RSA called it “an extremely sophisticated cyber attack.”…

Five different “blocks” of Internap hosted services -- which could include websites, email services, and email-storage and cloud services -- were hit in the 2011 attack. A computer expert tells Breitbart News that Internap networks could have been used by the hackers to help it get to RSA or other targets.

China was the home source of 299 of the 338 command and control networks that the hackers used to carry out the attacks, according to an analysis at the time by cyber security expert Brian Krebbs.

This is a mindboggling breach of national security, one that puts overseas operations and American lives at risk. Of course, the Clintons have a history of playing fast and loose with American secrets. As Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) has noted, China’s recent test of its DF-41 ICBM with multiple warheads employed technology given to China on Bill Clinton’s watch:

China has just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver up to 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads, using technology given to them on President Clinton's watch to launch communications satellites….

A report by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) dated Dec. 10, 1996, notes that China's MIRV technology is likely an offshoot of a "smart dispenser" for launching multiple satellites developed by China under a contract with Motorola to launch its Iridium communications satellites. This technology transfer was approved by the Clinton administration.

Another instance of missile technology transfer to China under the Clinton administration aided the development of the Chinese Long March series of missiles, a mainstay of its space program, technology also put to good use in the development of its ICBMs.

The Long March has proved a reliable Chinese launch vehicle, but it wasn't always so. After the failed launch of a satellite built by Loral Space & Communications Ltd. attached to a Chinese rocket in 1996, Loral provided 200 pages of data to China's Great Wall Industry Corp. to correct the guidance system problems of their Long March rockets, which blew up 75% of the time.

Such data, also applicable to the guidance system of ICBMs, were previously banned from export for national security reasons after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacres until President Clinton granted a waiver. Loral Chairman Bernard L. Schwartz gave $1.5 million to the Democratic Party in 1996.

As for the difference in the treatment of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton, IBD has asked the obvious question:

Which is worse -- keeping classified information in a personal journal at home or doing government business and transmitting classified data on a private email account managed from the Clinton family home?

This adds a new level of premeditated secrecy and deceit to the actions of the presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

It also adds a new level of hypocrisy to the most transparent administration in history's pursuit of former CIA Director and commander of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus.

It also raises the question, how can someone who, through the same “gross negligence” that cost American lives at Benghazi has placed all our lives at risk, be a candidate for president and not a candidate for incarceration?

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.