Tuesday, May 31, 2016

"Clinton's E-Mail Shenanigans Sure Don't Look Like an Honest Mistake"

Megan McArdle: The State Department’s Office of Inspector General report... lays to rest the longtime Clinton defense that this use of a private server was somehow normal and allowed by government rules: It was not normal, and was not allowed by the government rules in place at the time “The Department’s current policy, implemented in 2005, is that normal day-to-day operations should be conducted on an authorized Automated Information System (AIS), which “has the proper level of security control to … ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the resident information.”
It also shreds the defense that “Well, Colin Powell did it too” into very fine dust, and then neatly disposes of the dust. As the report makes very clear, there are substantial differences between what Powell did and what Clinton did:
  • Powell says he set up a private e-mail account, in addition to his internal account, because at the time, the State Department “email system in place only only permitted communication among Department staff. He therefore requested that information technology staff install the private line so that he could use his personal account to communicate with people outside the Department.” This is a quite plausible reason that, around the turn of the millennium, a secretary of state would have wanted to use his own account. Powell seems not to have done enough to ensure that those records were maintained, which is a problem (though it’s not clear that he was aware that he should have turned those e-mails over). However, as far as I can tell, the most plausible explanation of Clinton’s behavior is that she set up her e-mail server for the express purpose of keeping those e-mails from being archived as records (and subject to Freedom of Information Act requests), which is a great deal more problematic than setting up an inadequately archived e-mail system because there’s no other way to use an increasingly vital communications technology.
  • Powell had an outside line set up in his office, into which he plugged a laptop, which he used alongside his State Department computer. The IT department was, in other words, aware that this was going on, and it seems to have come up in discussions of his drive to get everyone at State access to the Internet at their desk. While the quality of information about Powell’s Internet usage is not as high as it is about Clinton’s (after 10 years, memories fade, people become hard to contact, and records degrade), there’s no indication that he was less than transparent with staff. On the other hand, it’s quite clear that folks at State had no idea what was going on with Clinton’s e-mail server, and troublingly, at least two people who asked questions about it were apparently told to shut up and never raise the subject again.
  • Three things have changed pretty dramatically since Powell’s day: the magnitude (and appreciation) of cybersecurity threats; the quality of the State Department systems; and the government rules surrounding both recordkeeping and cybersecurity. One can argue that Powell should not have used a private computer during his tenure, but he seems to have done so in consultation with the IT folks, at a time when the policy surrounding these things was “very fluid” and the State Department “was not aware of the magnitude of the security risks associated with information technology.” By 2009, the magnitude of the risks was clear, and the policy was also much clearer. As far as the OIG could determine, Clinton took no action to ensure that she was in compliance with that policy, which, in fact, she emphatically was not. Officials at State told the OIG in no uncertain terms that they would not have approved her reliance on a personal e-mail server.
  • The OIG found only three instances in which State employees had relied exclusively on personal e-mail: Powell, Clinton and Ambassador J. Scott Gration, the U.S. emissary to Kenya from 2011 to 2012. Gration, who served under Clinton, was in the middle of a disciplinary process initiated against him for this e-mail use (among other things) when he resigned. So it is not only impossible to argue that this was somehow in compliance with State’s guidelines, but also impossible to argue that Clinton might have thought it was in compliance with requirements, unless she somehow failed to notice when or why her ambassador to Kenya went missing.
  • The OIG found evidence that the server was attacked, and that Clinton’s staff members (and presumably Clinton herself) were aware of it (Clinton at one point seems to have expressed concern that people might be trying to hack her email). These incidents should have been reported to computer security personnel, but OIG found no evidence that they were. Clinton’s supporters have offered the wan defense that “attacked” doesn’t mean “actually hacked,” but of course, since they didn’t report it, there was no timely investigation, so we don’t really know what happened, or even whether her server setup and/or server administrator were sophisticated enough to detect a penetration if one had taken place.
  • This is the most profoundly amazing part of the whole story: Clinton’s server administrator was hired by State as a political appointee, from which position he continued to provide support to Clinton’s private e-mail server during working hours, without telling anyone this was happening:
    The DCIO and CIO, who prepared and approved the Senior Advisor’s annual evaluations, believed that the Senior Advisor’s job functions were limited to supporting mobile computing issues across the entire Department. They told OIG that while they were aware that the Senior Advisor had provided IT support to the Clinton Presidential campaign, they did not know he was providing ongoing support to the Secretary’s email system during working hours. They also told OIG that they questioned whether he could support a private client during work hours, given his capacity as a full-time government employee.
    Clinton apparently paid him for the work, but it is basically impossible to believe that she didn’t know this was happening (if her e-mail malfunctioned during the workday, did she expect to wait until 8 or 9 that night for it to come back up?) or that she thought it was okay to hire your private server administrator as a political appointee (a diplomatic political appointee in the IT department?) and then have him keep an eye on your private server from his government office. This has an unpleasant whiff of Tammany Hall about it.
It’s really hard to come away from reading this report thinking “Yup, just an honest mistake.” Or indeed, “just a mistake, no big deal.” Or even “no worse than others have done.”

14 comments:

Sydney said...

At the very least, this shows a reckless disregard for the best interests of the United States government. At the very worst- I suspect federal laws were broken. Will she be held accountable?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Every time Hillary or one of her corrupt surrogates lies about Powell - the shot-back is COLIN POWELL DIDN'T SET UP A PRIVATE SERVER IN HIS BASEMENT.

Did Powell use a private e-mail system to sell us down the river for bribes? NO.

Clinton did.

ndspinelli said...

I saw Powell explain this forcefully and succinctly last year. Trump needs to get that clip on MTP and play it in his ads.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Her other big lie is that she was given permission.


No. Lie.


The oligarch of the universe gave herself permission.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'm not sure Trump is savvy enough to run good ads. The ads against Hillary write themselves. The piles of lies and corruption... it boggles. Will Trump use any of it to any great effect?

Stay tuned. If he really wants to win, he better.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I saw Powell explain this forcefully and succinctly last year.

I missed that. I've only seen him on tv taking pot shots at the administration he served.

Trooper York said...

Trump is doing just fine the way he is. He doesn't have to change to listen to the people who have fanatically opposed him since he began his campaign. He needs to attack Hillary but not fatally wound her until she is the nominee. He wants to run against her because she will be the easiest Democrat for him to beat. Bernie is a commie but at least people like him. Biden can be a crash test dummy and people will vote for him a lot quicker than for Hillary. So he wants to keep her in play.

But the worst thing he can do is to change to listen to the people who hate him.

edutcher said...

When did anything the Ozark Mafia ever did look like an honest mistake?

April wants Hillary to win, just to spite The Donald.

most of the other NeverTrumpers, aside from Bill Kristol and Paul Ryan, have figured out anything that hurts Trump helps Hillary. And hisa ads seem to be hitting home.

Methadras said...

The Powell/Rice distraction will hold no water.

Methadras said...

April, you are still voting for Trump, right?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'm Never HIllary. I'll vote for anyone who isn't HIllary.

Methadras said...

AprilApple said...

I'm Never HIllary. I'll vote for anyone who isn't HIllary.


You have my full support. GO FORTH AND VOTIFY!!! :D

Chip Ahoy said...

It's all so very serious.

But what is not serious is the swiftness of justice in this country. What is not serious is care for justice in this country. Or else this foul stinking bitch would be behind bars and I feel that and know that and say that also knowing her gang feels the same way toward Bush and that is how they justify everything. Everything. Everything is explained by tu quoqe and that allows anything and everything.

And that is right the Lord whispers in tiny voice directly to me, "this is not you, do something else."

And that tiny suggestion is the only direction I'll be having. A little needle on a compass that wiggles.

So I direct my attention to nailing this song with superior accuracy using K-Pop dancers as model and as inspiration. An Honest Mistake by the Bravery.

Hey! Maybe the kids already did it. It's logical they did. [honest mistake, asl]

Nope.

They sound like this. And that project turned out a lot easier than I thought. It's nicely paced, easy to show, and shows nicely, repeaty and expressive.

mistake = wrong, and "misunderstand" is available.

The whole song is simple. Recommended for beginner class project or final. The object would be show the song as if having a natural conversation.

Now that you're interested and bristling with excitement and sparking anticipatory energy, and all ready to go, here are the lyrics.

Aren't they perfect to argue and plead? Pull this off without making any customary frowny faces, keep it positive in appearance and convincing in loving pleading allowing no gloom, and you win. It is a very good song.

Wow, thank you internal spark of divinity for steering me off that awful felonious cunSHUTYOURMOUTH! And get back to doing something else. Something sweet. Something harmless. Something generous. Something to your nature, you dick.

Chip Ahoy said...

What? Link didn't go. The lyrics you're bristling for.