Hillary Clinton never actually met the official requirements to obtain a security clearance to handle classified information, according to a growing body of evidence.

“That is exactly the conclusion here based on the evidence,” former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele told Breitbart News.

“The process is the process. The protocols are the protocols,” Steele said, noting that when you look at internal State Department evidence “this [conclusion] is where you’ll end up.”

Steele called the evidence presented here below “a case that everyone is going to have to pay attention to.”

When Hillary Clinton started her career at the State Department, she was required to sign a “Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement,” otherwise known as an SF-312, vowing to give back classified materials when she left the agency. Clinton signed that form in January 2009.

But if you look at the copy of the document that the State Department released, you will find something very jarring: No one from the State Department signed it.

Beneath Clinton’s signature, there is a box labeled “Acceptance” with the message: “The Undersigned Accepted This Agreement On Behalf of the United States Government.”

That box is left completely blank, with no signature and no date next to it. Since a person cannot sign a contract with herself, a case can be made that the document was never executed, according to citizen researcher Larry Kawa, who brought this evidence to the attention of Breitbart News.

And in the box showing that a “Witness” observed execution of the contract, the signature line is REDACTED by the State Department and the date is written in the same handwriting that Clinton used to write the date in her own signature box.

Federal government records show that a person issued a security clearance must have an EXECUTED SF-312 form.

The official Defense Security Service Powerpoint presentation “AskPSMO-I Webinar: SF-312 Non-Disclosure Agreement,” a tutorial for government workers, makes clear that a person’s SF-312 must be executed.

“An individual issued an initial personnel security clearance (PCL) must execute a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (SF-312) prior to being granted access to classified information,” according to the presentation, which is published as a document on the Defense Security Service website.

Clinton’s private email scandal is growing bigger as she prepares to become the Democratic nominee for president.

Breitbart News exclusively reported that Hillary Clinton and her top aide Cheryl Mills avoided signing a mandatory agreement to return classified materials when they left the State Department.

Breitbart News obtained confirmation on State Department letterhead that Hillary Clinton did NOT sign a mandatory OF-109 “Separation Statement” when she left the State Department.

That statement would have required her to affirm that she had returned all classified materials in her possession. Clinton’s top aide Cheryl Mills also avoided signing a separation statement. Mills actually filed hers, but it was left completely blank.

Additionally, Clinton never certified that she went through a mandatory security debriefing to learn how to handle classified information.

As Breitbart News detailed, citizen researcher Larry Kawa was targeted with a voice mail message and an email from State Department officials in which the Department admitted to “mistakenly” mailing out sensitive information on the Clinton case, asked him to return the sensitive information as soon as he got it in the mail, and warned him not to disclose any of the information they thought he’d been sent.

“When you look at the pieces, you look at how the State Department reacted to his FOIA request and said ‘Holy crap! Houston we have a problem here!” Steele said.

The Clinton campaign and the State Department did not return requests for comment.