CLINTON BROKE EMAIL SECURITY RULES
State Dept. audit says she disregarded policy with private server
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, obtained by the Associated Press and sent to members of Congress, found that she and previous secretaries of State poorly managed computer systems.
The audit cites “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” related to communication that started before Clinton’s appointment.
However, the report says Clinton did not seek authorization for her email account and by the time she took office in 2009, standards for email security were “considerably more detailed.”
The department revised guidelines through 2011, according to the report, and “Clinton’s cybersecurity practices must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive directives.”
Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Clinton’s opponents “are sure to misrepresent this report.”
“The report shows that problems with the State Department’s electronic record-keeping systems were long-standing 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 in a statement.
He said the report showed her use of a personal email account “was not unique.” It also showed there is no evidence of a successful hack of her server.
The review came after revelations last year that Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. The FBI is separately probing whether any classified information crossed her server.
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.”
The audit gave Republican critics, including presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, fresh ammunition. “Crooked Hillary had a little bad news,” he said at a rally in California on Wednesday.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus blasted Clinton on Twitter, saying her “bad judgment” had “endangered” national security.