State Dept Inspector General Report
what dreams
Posts: 1,761
If you like to read government reports, here it is:
https://oig.state.gov/system/files/esp-16-03.pdf
If you don't, I've summarized it below, mostly free of commentary because as you will see, the report doesn't say much of anything that we didn't already know -- our government as a whole is whacked. People trying to blow this into a "nail in the coffin" or "smoking gun" must not have read the same report I read. Mostly it's just incredibly boring, boring, boring. But this is what I've learned most strikingly: the Inspector General's purpose wasn't even to investigate Clinton, as the media would have us all believe. The Inspector General was tasked, at the request of John Kerry, to investigate and make recommendations regarding the preservation of government records and to make policy recommendations moving forward regarding e-mail because the whole system is a mess.
The report begins with an overview of the policies in place since the late 1990's when e-mail began to be more widely used at State. There has been no practical or consistent method to maintain government records (and not everything is a record). Up until recently, State employees (like all fed govt employees) had been required to print and file emails if the user determined it fell under the government definition of a record. Govt. agents in charge soon realized they can't store or access such vast amounts of information in print form, so different governing bodies set up several different electronic methods to preserve emails. People were left to choose which method they wanted to use, and to interpret the definition of a record. Because of the vast confusion this creates -- and because people are just fucking busy -- US government employees across the board are still not complying with this policy, and they're still not at State under Kerry, either.
Interviewed employees indicate that they use their own equipment and accounts because the government equipment and accounts don't always work when they are traveling, or because the slow and inefficient system repeatedly breaks down when they have crucial business to attend to. According to the Inspector General, IT IS NOT AGAINST THE LAW for any of them to use their personal equipment or e-mail accounts. Though discouraged from it through various policies and procedures, if they do use personal email or devices, they are required to send a copy of records to their state.gov address within twenty days (and remember, not everything is a record). This amendment did not become part of the Federal Records Act until 2014. Upon departure, all employees have always been required to turn over records on personal devices and sign a statement that they have complied. No, Hillary didn't sign one, but none of the other three investigated secretaries have, either. Albright in the 90's never used e-mail at all even though it was available, and Rice never used a personal e-mail account. Colin Powell actually installed his own private line because the government didn't provide a way for him to electronically communicate with the outside world when conducting daily business. During his tenure, it was still only possible to email within the state.gov system -- that's how crappy the technology was just 10 years or so ago. He has produced none of the documents requested of him by the IG, even though he admitted in his interview to using his personal account for business on a daily basis, and his representatives and staff have basically ignored the requests for documents.
The IG believes that Clinton's release of 30,000 emails from her personal account amounting to approximately 55,000 pieces of paper "mitigates" her lack of compliance with the incredibly clunky procedures in place to preserve records. Both the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) and a Federal District Court judge agreed with the Inspector General. A suit has already been filed against her (and they lost) under the Federal Records Act. YES -- A federal judge has already exonerated her. There are some missing e-mails for a few months-long period, January-April 2009. Their absence is NOT explained in the report at all, except to say that the IG does know she was emailing in that period because a handful of communications surfaced from various people, among them some DoD communications with David Petraeus. [Commentary: his glorious career also ended by an email scandal and somehow he ends up involved in this. Sour grapes anyone? I personally would like to review that time period historically to see what was going on -- I can't remember if that was the Benghazi period or not. It's all a freaking blur to me how Benghazi relates to the e-mail because of the way this Clinton story has been twisted into epic proportions. You have to work a full-time job to follow it.]
Though most of the really strict policies came into being after Clinton's tenure ended, there was some discussion in the report about policies getting tighter under Clinton as technology evolved and became more widely used. Most of the revised policies specifically regarded "sensitive but unclassified" emails (SBUs). The report discloses that she did not follow recommendations to restrict her communication to government accounts under these SBU policies. The govt tech people attempted several times to get her a secure smart phone but they were "unsuccessful." The report does not elaborate on these smart phone attempts nor why they were unsuccessful. Members of her staff were chastised for using BlackBerry devices in secure locations because of their vulnerability to attack. BlackBerries and all personal devices are banned everywhere now except the cafeteria, but of course people all over the department are still using their personal devices even under Sec'y Kerry. There was no mention at all that any of the emails Clinton transmitted were classified. There was some discussion of hackers -- they were successfully attacking unclassified government emails belonging to a variety of high level diplomats and economic policy makers (not Clinton). A couple of times, Clinton's people notified State that they shut her personal server down because of detected, but unsuccessful, attempts to hack. There is also a concern about Clinton not providing the required proof that the system she used was in compliance with federal cyber-security requirements. It wasn't an accusation that the server wasn't compliant. The concern was that she never provided evidence it was.
At the end of the report, the IG made many recommendations (don't remember the exact number). They basically asked Kerry to get his whole department's shit together regarding email. In their response to the recommendations, the State Department affirmed their commitment to improving their systems, and the IG responded that they were satisfied and look forward to the department documenting the steps it is now taking and will take in the future. Basically, employees now have created more government paperwork, and the big boys have all patted themselves on the back and gone home.
In a nutshell, I can summarize the IG recommendations in two points:
1. That people follow stricter guidelines regarding the preservation of records (the worker bees are too freaking busy to comply or they are too confused about how to do it, if you read the report)
and
2. That people stop using personal devices and private, commercial accounts (which they use because their govt.-issued technology sucks).
There are ZERO recommendations with the name Hillary Clinton in them.
https://oig.state.gov/system/files/esp-16-03.pdf
If you don't, I've summarized it below, mostly free of commentary because as you will see, the report doesn't say much of anything that we didn't already know -- our government as a whole is whacked. People trying to blow this into a "nail in the coffin" or "smoking gun" must not have read the same report I read. Mostly it's just incredibly boring, boring, boring. But this is what I've learned most strikingly: the Inspector General's purpose wasn't even to investigate Clinton, as the media would have us all believe. The Inspector General was tasked, at the request of John Kerry, to investigate and make recommendations regarding the preservation of government records and to make policy recommendations moving forward regarding e-mail because the whole system is a mess.
The report begins with an overview of the policies in place since the late 1990's when e-mail began to be more widely used at State. There has been no practical or consistent method to maintain government records (and not everything is a record). Up until recently, State employees (like all fed govt employees) had been required to print and file emails if the user determined it fell under the government definition of a record. Govt. agents in charge soon realized they can't store or access such vast amounts of information in print form, so different governing bodies set up several different electronic methods to preserve emails. People were left to choose which method they wanted to use, and to interpret the definition of a record. Because of the vast confusion this creates -- and because people are just fucking busy -- US government employees across the board are still not complying with this policy, and they're still not at State under Kerry, either.
Interviewed employees indicate that they use their own equipment and accounts because the government equipment and accounts don't always work when they are traveling, or because the slow and inefficient system repeatedly breaks down when they have crucial business to attend to. According to the Inspector General, IT IS NOT AGAINST THE LAW for any of them to use their personal equipment or e-mail accounts. Though discouraged from it through various policies and procedures, if they do use personal email or devices, they are required to send a copy of records to their state.gov address within twenty days (and remember, not everything is a record). This amendment did not become part of the Federal Records Act until 2014. Upon departure, all employees have always been required to turn over records on personal devices and sign a statement that they have complied. No, Hillary didn't sign one, but none of the other three investigated secretaries have, either. Albright in the 90's never used e-mail at all even though it was available, and Rice never used a personal e-mail account. Colin Powell actually installed his own private line because the government didn't provide a way for him to electronically communicate with the outside world when conducting daily business. During his tenure, it was still only possible to email within the state.gov system -- that's how crappy the technology was just 10 years or so ago. He has produced none of the documents requested of him by the IG, even though he admitted in his interview to using his personal account for business on a daily basis, and his representatives and staff have basically ignored the requests for documents.
The IG believes that Clinton's release of 30,000 emails from her personal account amounting to approximately 55,000 pieces of paper "mitigates" her lack of compliance with the incredibly clunky procedures in place to preserve records. Both the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) and a Federal District Court judge agreed with the Inspector General. A suit has already been filed against her (and they lost) under the Federal Records Act. YES -- A federal judge has already exonerated her. There are some missing e-mails for a few months-long period, January-April 2009. Their absence is NOT explained in the report at all, except to say that the IG does know she was emailing in that period because a handful of communications surfaced from various people, among them some DoD communications with David Petraeus. [Commentary: his glorious career also ended by an email scandal and somehow he ends up involved in this. Sour grapes anyone? I personally would like to review that time period historically to see what was going on -- I can't remember if that was the Benghazi period or not. It's all a freaking blur to me how Benghazi relates to the e-mail because of the way this Clinton story has been twisted into epic proportions. You have to work a full-time job to follow it.]
Though most of the really strict policies came into being after Clinton's tenure ended, there was some discussion in the report about policies getting tighter under Clinton as technology evolved and became more widely used. Most of the revised policies specifically regarded "sensitive but unclassified" emails (SBUs). The report discloses that she did not follow recommendations to restrict her communication to government accounts under these SBU policies. The govt tech people attempted several times to get her a secure smart phone but they were "unsuccessful." The report does not elaborate on these smart phone attempts nor why they were unsuccessful. Members of her staff were chastised for using BlackBerry devices in secure locations because of their vulnerability to attack. BlackBerries and all personal devices are banned everywhere now except the cafeteria, but of course people all over the department are still using their personal devices even under Sec'y Kerry. There was no mention at all that any of the emails Clinton transmitted were classified. There was some discussion of hackers -- they were successfully attacking unclassified government emails belonging to a variety of high level diplomats and economic policy makers (not Clinton). A couple of times, Clinton's people notified State that they shut her personal server down because of detected, but unsuccessful, attempts to hack. There is also a concern about Clinton not providing the required proof that the system she used was in compliance with federal cyber-security requirements. It wasn't an accusation that the server wasn't compliant. The concern was that she never provided evidence it was.
At the end of the report, the IG made many recommendations (don't remember the exact number). They basically asked Kerry to get his whole department's shit together regarding email. In their response to the recommendations, the State Department affirmed their commitment to improving their systems, and the IG responded that they were satisfied and look forward to the department documenting the steps it is now taking and will take in the future. Basically, employees now have created more government paperwork, and the big boys have all patted themselves on the back and gone home.
In a nutshell, I can summarize the IG recommendations in two points:
1. That people follow stricter guidelines regarding the preservation of records (the worker bees are too freaking busy to comply or they are too confused about how to do it, if you read the report)
and
2. That people stop using personal devices and private, commercial accounts (which they use because their govt.-issued technology sucks).
There are ZERO recommendations with the name Hillary Clinton in them.
Post edited by what dreams on
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Now, if you're looking for an interpretation (again, of someone who has actually read the whole report), here's a funny one I read while enjoying my coffee this morning.
mediaite.com/online/hillary-clintons-emails-are-a-threat-to-life-as-we-know-it/
I would like to add that I thank brianlux for encouraging me to learn how to link. I discovered that my basic android phone does not contain that feature at all, so I have decided to only enter this Moving Train when I'm on my PC. Ya'll have turned me into a linking machine. Watch out. I read a lot. Hahaha