Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information has already damaged her standing with the American people, but some experts contend it has created a trust gap with an entirely different audience — foreign governments.

Kyle Shideler, director of threat assessment at the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, said foreign leaders — friend and foe — almost certainly took note of the security breaches described this week by FBI Director James Comey. Shideler said that if allied governments feel like U.S. officials have a general disregard for security, “they will judge that accordingly.”

“The only other conclusion they may reach is, if it’s a hostile government, that we are easy pickings.”

And could they reach any other conclusion?

“The only other conclusion they may reach is, if it’s a hostile government, that we are easy pickings,” he said. “At best, our allies are afraid to share information with, and our enemies are eager to steal from, us.”

Although Comey declined to recommend a criminal prosecution — based on his judgment that Clinton lacked criminal intent — he reviewed a devastating set of facts. Clinton, the investigation concluded, used multiple devices and stored emails on multiple servers in the basement of her suburban New York home to circumvent standard cyber security measures.

Comey said he could not say conclusively that hackers compromised that system.

During congressional testimony Thursday, Comey reiterated his critique of Clinton’s behavior as secretary of state: “That’s the definition of carelessness and negligence,” he said.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan sent a letter this week to National Intelligence Director James Clapper suggesting that it would be appropriate to withhold the classified briefings that presidential candidates normally receive. He told reporters at a news conference that such a move would be in line with the administrative sanctions that Comey suggested would be appropriate.

“Look, I was on the ticket in 2012,” Ryan said, referring to his candidacy for vice president. “After the convention, you get the full deep classified information as part of transition, as part of being a nominee. I think the DNI [Director of National Intelligence] Clapper should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign given how she so recklessly handled classified information.”

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Sen. David Perdue called Thursday for the State Department to revoke Clinton’s security clearance.

“As the head of the State Department, Hillary Clinton was directly responsible for protecting sensitive information and ensuring her employees did the same, and she failed on both fronts,” he said in a prepared statement. “Of all of the people involved in this scandal, Secretary Clinton should have known she was putting national security at risk and immediately stopped all non-secure communication involving classified information.”

Clinton has been dogged by the email scandal for more than a year. Despite repeated denials of wrongdoing, it appears to have damaged her standing with voters. An Economist/YouGov poll taken before Comey’s announcement indicated that 58 percent of voters believe Clinton is not honest and trustworthy.

The same goes for many Republican lawmakers.

“If we cannot trust Hillary Clinton with a BlackBerry, we certainly cannot trust her with the Oval Office,” Rep. Diane Black said in a statement.

Shideler said it could affect U.S. foreign relations.

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“Foreign leaders rely on being able to speak to diplomats and cabinet secretaries — and certainly the secretary of state — and have some degree of confidentiality,” he said. “This is doubly so if sharing classified information.”

Shideler said the U.S. intelligence community has taken a number of hits to its credibility in recent years, referring to secrets revealed by WikilLeaks and former government contractor Edward Snowden.

“There will be a general concern about Hillary Clinton if she were elected, [wondering] if she is a person that they can rely on,” he said.