State Department Deals A Death Blow To The Republican Party’s Clinton Email Scandal

[TwilightZone]

Borrowed from GD (though it probably belongs in GDP, so might get locked)

A new State Department audit has found that Hillary Clinton and previous Republican Secretaries of State poorly managed the use of email. The audit also blames the State Department itself for being slow to adapt its policies to changing technology.

The problem for Republicans is that the basis of their “scandal” is that Clinton did something different and more criminal than previous Secretaries of State. The audit shows that the problems with email in the State Department existed long before Clinton and that State suffers from many of the same issues that federal departments face when confronted with a combination of quickly changing technology and outdated policies.

More....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7856221

[yallerdawg]

1. We've seen this before. For decades now!

The real scandal that should matter to voters is that Republicans in Congress have wasted millions of dollars investigating a “scandal about nothing.”

Democrats are still waiting on the breathless corporate media reporting about the Republican waste of time and money investigating bogus scandals and conspiracy theories.

[jonno99]

2. I dunno - did the Republican SoSs have private servers setup in their residences - or did they

simply use commercial email accounts (gmail, etc.)?

[leftofcool]

3. They deleted theirs. How would we know?

[mercuryblues]

17. Powell

used laptop that one seems to know where it came from. He claims not to remember where it came from and the Dept has not said they issued him one. Rice said no and they took her word for it.

[jimw81]

23. This part is so similar to Hillary server

If that laptop's hard drive was not encrypted he'll be in the same exact position Hillary is in right now with her server. Laptops are more easily to attack with viruses and maleware. This was never brought up in report at all.

[mercuryblues]

31. Pretty much

Secretary Powell has publicly stated that, during his tenure as Secretary, he “installed a laptop
computer on a private line” and that he used the laptop to send emails via his personal email
account to his “principal assistants, individual ambassadors, and foreign minister colleagues.”
Secretary Powell's representative advised the Department in 2015 that he did not retain those

a former Director of Policy Planning wrote: “State’s technology is so antiquated
that NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up using their
home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively.”

Secretary Powell stated
that he accessed the email account via his personal laptop computer in his office, while
traveling, and at his residence, but not through a mobile device. His representative advised the
Department that Secretary Powell “did not retain those emails or make printed copies.”

So yes, Powell should be in paddling in that boat with Clinton. Only he is not, why is that? Because Nothing illegal was done. It was not against the law to use private email, nor outside dept. servers. It was against policy, BUT you could ask for approval to do so.

The Information Resource Management (IRM) is responsible for the IT in the dept. They would be the ones that would approve Clinton's use of her server. They claim they never did. Yet, they provided tech support when her emails weren't going through. Offered a solution for her electronic needs when her server was down and sent emails to her domain. Although I am not 100% sure about this, I think one of the people who set up her server was then hired by IRM.

This has to be the freaking worst kept secret ever.

Say I owned an unreliable car that broke down a lot.

If I told my spouse that I wanted a new car and didn't get a yes or no then came home with one for a test drive. While I had it for the weekend he washed and waxed it, read the manual and changed the oil, I would interpret that as an implied agreement that I would keep the car.

[Scientific]

4. Now that Ken Starr is going to be free, the Republicans should appoint him to head up Benghazi #19

America really needs yet another freaking Republican Benghazi Investigation, and Kenny Starr is just the stooge to chair the effort. Nine freaking full-scale investigations that all came up with wicked expensive Nothing Burgers just aren't enough tarring-and-feathering.

What the Hell, taxpayers can afford to splurge another $180 million or so on yet another Golden, Deluxe All-Starr Witch Hunt - Republican Style.

[TwilightZone]

6. Based on his recent remarks, he'd probably offer to defend, rather than attack.

He almost sounds regretful about the whole thing and talked about Bill Clinton in pretty glowing terms.

Too bad he waited until he got fired in a scandal to do it.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Fox, Trump and Bernie will be very angry about this.

[sarae]

12. #SorryNotSorry, guys!

[TwilightZone]

7. The usual suspects have arrived on the original. There's a shock. K&R the original, please. :)

It deserves to be seen way more than the hit pieces. Too bad it won't be.

[sheshe2]

8. Woot!

Thank you TZ!

[Chichiri]

9. Better put HA Goodman under medical watch... Nt

[TwilightZone]

13. Oh, he'll just spin it like he always does.

Holy crap, is that guy delusional. He's turned HDS into an art form.

[Historic NY]

10. The State Dept along with other Federal Agencies...

were constantly hacked even before 2006....they still haven't fixed it and some complain of malware sent out states computers via PDF files...etc.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-department-computers-hacked/

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article31628900.html

https://securityintelligence.com/us-state-department-hack-has-major-security-implications/

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/03/state-department-has-rebuild-its-classified-networks-after-2014-hack/107205/

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/state-department-cybersecurity-hacking-112951

http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2015/04/21/government-watchdog-says-state-department-computer-system-has-been-hacked/

http://www.cnet.com/news/state-department-takes-network-offline-for-security-scrub/

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/state-departments-anti-hacking-office-total-mess


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/state-dept.-no-reason-to-believe-clinton-was-hacked/article/2590528

[ismnotwasm]

11. The report is very interesting

It's mostly lambastes the whole set up.

[jimw81]

14. The report itself

Made Powell, rice and Albright look bad. Plus it showed that Government isn't spending $$$ on IT security.

[mercuryblues]

15. So much noise has been

made about her private server.

various departments, including the IRM that their is no evidence that she requested or received guidance or approval to use her own email and server to conduct official business. Ds and IRM stated they would not have approved her sole use of server and private emails because of security risks.

But wait. there's more.
(pg37)
"Those officials stated that they were unaware of the scope of Secretary Clinton's use of a personal email account. Though many of them sent emails to the Secretary on this account"


Wait.Whuutt? They didn't know she was using an email account that they were sending emails to?

(pg 38)
in 2011 when the Executive Secretary, Under Secretary for Management, Clinton's Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff all discussed, via email, the possibility of Clinton getting a Blackberry because her personal email server was down.

Uhmmm, this would be the personal server they now claim to know nothing about, that they sent emails to.

(pg42)

an IRM employee provided tech support to resolve issues with emails from her personal domain because they were not reaching department employees.

now it is up to they are fixing providing tech support and sending emails to her personal server they knew nothing about.

(pg43) In 2011 there was a possible attempted hack on her server so it was shut down, by one of her private tech guy. The Dept Chief of Staff for Operations and Deputy Chief for planning were notified not to send her any emails and Clinton would explain in person.

Now we are up to them knowing about a possible attempted breach, proving tech support, sending emails to a server they knew nothing about.

That is not all


pg38 of the report. Powell had a private line place in his office so he could send and receive e-mails on his laptop. He, nor is aides do not remember if it was his personal laptop or issued to him. None of those emails have been backed up or turned over digitally.

Powell has had no email turned over from his account and claims it is all deleted. Rice simply said she used the system that was provided and it doesn't seem that the claim was looked into. Just took her word for it. Clinton, who has turned over, over 55,000 emails and more recovered from her server is the one people are clamoring to be arrested?

many emails were actually lost in the digital backup system from a variety of reasons. Corrupted files, to obsolete to restore or saved incorrectly.

Hillary would have been better off if she used the SD and IRM system to back up, they would have been irretrievably lost. But you know, some how she would have been investigated and blamed for that. The report is 80 odd pages long. Only the 1st 45 pages are relevant. Pages 35 to about 45 cover the crux of it.

This report did not raise questions or was scathing or spells trouble for Hillary. Quite the opposite IMO, for reasons stated above. Anyone who says anything different, based on this report, just knows she has to be guilty of something, somewhere, so arrest her for this. Never once were any laws broken.






https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/state-department-report-on-clintons-email-practices/2039/?tid=a_inl-amp

[TwilightZone]

16. Another excellent take on the issue.

Thanks for posting that. The bottom line is that there really isn't much we didn't know already, as several of these articles have noted. The only new stuff is that others in her position did similar things (most of which we knew), yet the only one being investigated (to date) is Clinton.

Kind of hard to claim it's not a witch hunt if all of the participants are essentially being exonerated by default except one.

[Loki]

18. Witch hunt or investigation?

It's so easy to tell which one this is.

[TwilightZone]

19. Yep. Not too hard when there's only one target.

Besides, the Bernie supporters seem to have forgotten that this all started with the Benghazi "investigation", which the vast majority of us agree was, in fact, a witch hunt. It's just an extension of that.

Ken Starr, all over again.

[mercuryblues]

20. same with your OP

They all now claim that her using the server was not approved. WTF? Using outside servers and programs were not illegal. They had to be approved.

Is it wonder that she thought it was ok?

The department responsible for approving it, sent emails to her domain, supplied tech support to her domain and suggested an alternate plan when her server was down.

thousands of emails on the state dept. system have been lost, even though they were stored correctly. The software program used is obsolete and they can't be recovered. They have recovered everything on Clinton's server from the same time frame.

It is entirely possible that emails found on her server that were not found stored on the dept servers, is because the files are obsolete or corrupted.

Based on the report the only time frame that no emails were recovered from and not on her server was when she first started. The system would not work and unusable. When she started using her own system is when her emails started getting recorded and saved. But somehow, this means the end of her freedom, or something.

I will say that If she wanted to keep the use of her server and private email top secret, she did a piss-poor job of it. The worst you can say is she doesn't deserve to be President because she can't keep a secret.

[SharonClark]

21. I agree but

Unfortunately, the media are putting that part on page 3 and headlining that Hillary was found at fault for not following guidelines.
Hopefully, this will blow over for all but the Hillary haters.

[TwilightZone]

22. I don't think the timing of the release is a coincidence.

It gives the media and everyone else a little time to digest it and realize that we knew most of this already, and plenty of time for it to die down again. A month from now, 95% of the public will have forgotten it, especially if Sanders concedes on June 8th/15th and endorses Hillary. The other 5% will still be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[still_one]

27. No it isn't a coincidence

[still_one]

25. you have used the WP for your link. I wonder if they read the report because bezos' editorial board

went full bore against Hillary on this, going as far as saying this should be an election issue, with very little criticism of the lax state department procedures and security that have been going on for decades.

Note, the link below is an editorial which is going out of its way to bash Hillary. The WP and NY Times since the bush administration. are not the papers they used to be

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clintons-inexcusable-willful-disregard-for-the-rules/2016/05/25/0089e942-22ae-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html?tid=ss_tw

The full context of the report, which the WP editorial fails to provide, was put into perspective by Cha's comment below:

"A new State Department audit has found that Hillary Clinton and previous Republican Secretaries of State poorly managed the use of email. The audit also blames the State Department itself for being slow to adapt its policies to changing technology."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1107&pid=145357

[TwilightZone]

30. The WP seems to be trying to play both sides of a lot of issues, trying to look "fair"

So, it's not really surprising that they are including opinion pieces that do the same here. They've been all over the place for most of this election cycle.

[Cha]

24. It is locked but i Rec it.. and here's the link @PoliticusUSA

Wasn't just the repub email scandal.. I bet burnie was hoping for the FBI to indict.. wasn't it mrs BS who asked on tv for the FBI to hurry up?

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/05/25/state-department-deals-death-blow-republican-partys-clinton-email-scandal.html

Thanks Twilight~

[still_one]

26. kick & rec, thanks Cha

[Cha]

28. You're Welcome, stillone~

[Thinkingabout]

29. After listening to Rachal's description of State Dept method of "safe", the State Dept should

Be embarrassed to have to release their method of practice.