Emails received by Judicial Watch on Wednesday show that problems with Hillary Clinton’s email server caused the State Department to disable security features.
Kenneth LaVolpe, a senior technical official, told his IT employees in a December 2010 email that the security issues “should trump all other activities.”
But emails dated 2011 and 2012 show that problems continued.
One employee told the team to disable the anti-spam feature, which would make the servers vulnerable to viruses and phishing emails. State Department official Thomas Lawrence admitted the department viewed the solution “as a Band-Aid” and they feared the solution “is not 100% fully effective.”
As John Sexton at Hot Air pointed out, the State Department’s system blocked Clinton’s emails because it viewed her “private server as a security threat.”
A few weeks later, an IT employee shut down her server since he thought “someone was trying to hack us.” The hackers did not succeed, but the professional wanted to take precautions. At the time, Clinton could not receive emails on her BlackBerry since she connected the device to her private server.
Clinton’s employees encouraged her to use her State Department email to keep her communications as protected as possible. But the Director of S/ES-IRM, the portion of the department that coordinates work between bureaus, reminded Clinton’s team that if she uses the department email “that any email would go through the Department’s infrastructure and subject to FOIA searches.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton lashed out at Clinton after he reviewed the emails:
“The new Hillary Clinton email records show she had zero interest in disclosing her emails to the public as the law requires,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. “And the emails show the Obama State Department gave special accommodations to Clinton’s email system, which the agency knew was unsecure, was likely hacked, and was not transparent under FOIA.”
Clinton has insisted over and over she did not do anything wrong by using her personal email address when she served as secretary of state. Former State Department watchdog Howard Krongard shot down her claims that her predecessors also used their own emails along with an inspector general report.
The IG report, issued on May 25, found that Rice never once used a personal email address to conduct state business. Colin Powell used his personal email address “on a limited basis to connect with people outside the department.” He also informed and “worked with the State Department to secure the system.”
Clinton never asked for approval from senior State Department officials. The IG showed confidence that no one would have given approval.
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