Report: Concerned State Dept Employees Told to ‘Never Speak of’ Hillary’s Server

Two IT department employees of Hillary Clinton’s State Department were told not to talk about her private email server when both workers noticed it and raised concerns, according to an official Office of the Inspector General report.

“Two staff in S/ES-IRM reported to OIG that, in late 2010, they each discussed their concerns about Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email account in separate meetings with the then-Director of S/ES-IRM,” claims one section of the report.

In one meeting, one staff member raised concerns that information sent and received on Secretary Clinton’s account could contain Federal records that needed to be preserved in order to satisfy Federal recordkeeping requirements. According to the staff member, the Director stated that the Secretary’s personal system had been reviewed and approved by Department legal staff and that the matter was not to be discussed any further. As previously noted, OIG found no evidence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser reviewed or approved Secretary Clinton’s personal system. According to the other S/ES-IRM staff member who raised concerns about the server, the Director stated that the mission of S/ES-IRM is to support the Secretary and instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.

As acknowledged by the above section of the Office of Inspector General’s report, the two employees who brought up the private server and the security risks it presented were told “never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again” and that their mission was to “support the Secretary.”

The report also states “OIG found no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server.”

According to the current CIO and Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, Secretary Clinton had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business with their offices, who in turn would have attempted to provide her with approved and secured means that met her business needs. However, according to these officials, DS and IRM did not—and would not—approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business, because of the restrictions in the FAM and the security risks in doing so.

The two employees featured in the report are not named, and it is unclear whether any other current employee at the time brought up the matter again.