State Dept. audit hits Clinton over email use

 

Hillary Clinton and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her email setup broke federal standards, according to an Inspector General's report released Wednesday. AP
WASHINGTON — A State Department audit that found Hillary Clinton disregarded cybersecurity guidelines by using a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State renewed questions Wednesday about a controversy that has dogged her presidential campaign since it began more than a year ago.....

The report from the inspector general, first obtained by the Associated Press and sent to members of Congress, found both she and previous secretaries of State poorly managed computer systems and cited “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” related to communications that preceded Clinton's time in office.
However, the audit says Clinton did not seek authorization for her email account, and by the time she took over as secretary of State in 2009, the standards for email security were "considerably more detailed and more sophisticated." The department revised guidelines through 2011, according to the report, and "Secretary Clinton's cybersecurity practices accordingly must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive directives."

In a statement, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that Clinton's opponents "are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes."
"The report shows that problems with the State Department's electronic recordkeeping systems were longstanding and that there was no precedent of someone in her position having a State Department email account until after the arrival of her successor," Fallon said, adding that the report showed her use of a personal email account "was not unique." He said it also showed the account was known to officials within the department and that there was no evidence of a successful hack of her server.

The department's review came after revelations last year that Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is separately probing whether classified information was compromised by her email arrangement. The investigation has cast a shadow over her presidential campaign, though Clinton is expected to clinch the delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination on June 7 during the last round of state primaries, which will include the biggest delegate prize, California.

The 78-page report says the department and its secretaries were “slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications, particularly as those risks pertain to its most senior leadership.”