A lot of stuff about the e-mail issue.
I’ve been made a little dizzy by the attacks on Hillary re e-mail and didn’t always have responses at the tip of my tongue. So I’ve done some research. Here’s what I’ve found.
1 – Hillary compromised national security.
The State Department OIG investigation does not address classified information. Clinton’s personal e-mail was for un-classified information only. The FBI investigation is the one looking into handling of classified information. The OIG report does not contain any information about breaches of Clinton’s e-mail, although it does mention some e-mails questioning certain messages. In fact, according to some experts, her e-mail was more secure than the Dept of State’s system for non-classified information. For one thing, it was formerly used by President Bill Clinton, and for another, it benefited from the physical security supplied by the secret service, much like the classified system at the state department.
“As for the department’s unclassified system, the inspector general's report demonstrates that it was horribly insecure, and that hackers obtained terabytes worth of documents out of it; on the other hand, Clinton’s email system was quite secure and, when evidence emerged that someone was trying to hack in, the security officer overseeing the server immediately shut it down, then notified the relevant officials at State. In other words, while boxcars of documents were digitally pulled out of the agency, there is no evidence a single email was snagged out of Clinton’s server. So it could be the Clinton arrangement didn’t follow the security procedures laid out in the federal regulations—the inspector general did not reach a conclusion as to whether it did or not—but, as often happens, private security contractors did a better job than the government.”
Hillary Clinton did not send e-mails including any information that was classified at the time, with the exception of responding to/forwarding e-mails sent to her by Sidney Blumenthal, a private citizen. These contained classified information which Blumenthal had obtained from public sources. She did not originate them nor was she responsible for their being made publicly available. She pointed out the absurdity of assigning her responsibility for this breach in either a debate, but probably in a town hall meeting, since I can’t find it in debate transcripts.
2 – She violated State Department policies.
The State Department had not promulgated any policy prohibiting the use of private e-mail servers. That was clarified in legislation in 2014, after Clinton had left office.
The State Department required people using personal e-mail to make hardcopies of all of their e-mails to comply with the federal requirement that all communications be preserved.
- Clinton had electronic backup, a much more appropriate approach in 2008-2012, and turned over 55,000 pages on paper -- just as the 1950's law required. She did not make the paper copies until after she left, which was a technical violation.
Here is an excellent description of what the real world of working with the State Department’s antiquated systems was like.
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-not-scandal-464414
3 – She is a liar.
- She’s been saying that a private server was allowed, but now she’s saying she thought it was allowed.
At the time the server was installed there were no state department regulations applying to personal servers. In response to the OIG investigation State Department IT staff said that if she had asked, she would have been told it wasn’t allowed. We don’t know when they made this decision, but in the face of a changing set of circumstances (State Dept now claims it wouldn’t have allowed it), she adjusts her response in a rational way.
- She said, "I'm more than ready to talk to anybody anytime” but the report said she declined to be interviewed by the OIG.
OK. So in the heat of a debate or an interview she said something she wanted to back away from later in the face of new circumstances. I don’t claim to know the details, but I do understand that total consistency is never found in political campaigns. To assume that someone was lying everytime they have to change their position in the face of new circumstances is a very grim way of relating to ones fellow human beings indeed.
- She said that personal e-mail was allowed.
It was. The State Department even specified different ways for preserving copies than the ways used for state.gov.
- She said the State Department approved of her use of private e-mail/server. CLINTON: "What I did was allowed. It was allowed by the State Department. The State Department has confirmed that." - AP interview, September 2015
In this case I expect early on someone had, indeed, sometime before Sept 2015, told her it was "OK," since personal e-mails were definitely OK and private servers hadn't been addressed. Of course people who are convinced Hillary is “a liar” won’t be persuaded by this, but imagine yourself trying to explain a system like this in sound bites.
http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-not-scandal-464414
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