E-mails reveal a valued adviser

WASHINGTON — As secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton had access to the latest information and analysis from the nation’s premier intelligence agencies, from a corps of seasoned diplomats reporting back from every corner of the world, from a range of foreign policy experts in and out of government. And from Sidney Blumenthal.

A former journalist, White House official and longtime confidant of Clinton’s, Blumenthal became a frequent correspondent and tipster during her time in President Obama’s Cabinet, passing along news articles, inside information, political gossip, election polls, geopolitical advice and sheer speculation in a steady drumbeat of e-mails, according to documents released by the State Department.

In addition to memos on Libya that have drawn attention, Blumenthal weighed in freely on events in Britain, Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, China, Greece, and even Kyrgyzstan, becoming a sort of unofficial early warning service for the secretary on the far-flung issues that confronted her.

He also served as an informer on domestic politics, keeping her up to date on the latest machinations in the White House and the campaign trail, even offering suggestions for midterm election strategy.

Blumenthal was so prolific in his messages to “H,” as he addressed her, that he seems to be the person she heard from by e-mail the most outside her department. Of the 4,368 emails and documents that were posted by the State Department on Monday, a search found that 306 involved messages from Blumenthal to Clinton or vice versa.