Hilary Clinton Email Controversy

Introduction:
-

March 2015, publicly known to use her familys private email server >
official State department email
During her tenure as United States Secretary of State
Official communications included thousands that are marked classified
Unfolded at Clintons 2016 presidential election campaign + hearings
by U.S House Select Committee on Benghazi
Some members of Congress contended that she violated State
Department protocols and procedure
In response, she has said her personal email followed federal laws +
former secretaries had personal email accounts, but not private email
servers
After allegations, FBI investigated
FBI found some emails originated in 5 other intelligence agencies
FBI found all classified emails on Clintons server were drafted on
unclassified systems (stored and sent from unclassified servers)
FBI Director James Comey identified 110 classified info, 65 deemed
secret, 22 deemed top secret
However as noted in Clintons non-disclosure agreement unmarked,
unmarked classified information should be treated the same as
marked classified information.
Additional 3 emails contained portion markings, not included in 110 list,
State failed to confirmed they were classified at the time
May 2016, the State Departments Office of the Inspector General
released an 83 page report about State Departments email practices.
July 5, 2016, Comey announced FBIs investigation concluded that Clinton
was extremely careless, but recommended no charges to be filed
against her.
July 6, 2016, Attorney General Loretta Lunch announced no charges
July 7, 2016, State Department reopened its probe
October 28, 2016, Comey notified Congress that the FBI has started
looking into newly discovered emails that may be pertinent to the case
Law enforcement officials stated the emails were found on the electronic
device shared by Huma Abedin & Anthony Weiner

Background:
1.
-

Clintons use of BlackBerrys:

Prior Secretary of State 2009, her friends and colleagues used BlackBerry
State Department security personnel suggested this pose a security risk
Private server hosted in basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York,
but this info was not disclosed to State Department security personnel
Impractical to find solution (even after consulting National Security
Agency)
Setting up a secure computer was suggested, but she was unfamiliar with
their use, opted for convenience
Efforts to find a secure solution abandoned by Clinton, and warned by
State Department

She affirmed her knowledge of danger, reportedly told Bureu of

Diplomatic Security had obtained intelligence about her vulnerability
when she was in Asia.

2. Domain names and email server

- Clintonemail.com, wjcoffice.com, presidentclinton.com registered Eric
Hoteham instead of state.gov email account
- Purchased and installed for her 2008 presidential campaign
- Email server located in Clintons home in Chappaqua, until 2013, when it
was sent to a data center in New Jersey before being handed over to
Platte River Networks, a Denver based information technology firm
Clinton hired
- Server runs Microsoft Exchange 2010 server with access to emails over
the internet being delivered by Outlook Web App.
- Webpage secured with TLS certificate to allow information to be
transmitted securely when using the website
- But prior to March 20,2009, the webpage was reportedly not secured with
TLS certificate, meaning info transmitted was uncrypted & liable to
interception

3. Initial awareness
- 2009, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
express concerns over possible violations of normal federal government
record keeping procedures at
- End of 2012, a non profit group called Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed for a FOIA request seeking records
about her email
- CREW received response in May 2013, no records responsive to your
request were located
- Emails sent to clintonemail.com was discovered by in 2013 by hacker
Guccifer distributed emails sent to Clinton from Sidney Blumenthal by
accessing Blumenthals email account
- The emails dealth with 2012 Benghazi attack
- Blumenthal did not have a security clearance when he received material
from Clinton that has since been characterized as classified by the State
Department
- Summer of 2014, lawyers of State Department noticed a number of emails
from Clintons personal account while reviewing documents requested by
the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
- A request by the State Department for additional emails led to
negotiations with her lawyers and advisors.
- In October, State Department sent letters to previous Secretaries (back to
Madeleine Albright) requesting emails and documents
- 2014, Clinton lawyers delivered 12 file boxes of 30k emails
- Clinton withheld almost 32k emails because deemed to be personal nature
- Datto, Inc. which provided data backup service for Clintons email,
agreed to give FBI backups
- As of May 2016, no answer had been provided to public could the email be
recovered

2015, New York Times published story that the Benghazi panel discovered
that Clinton exclusively used her private email and her aides took no
action to preserve emails sent or received
At that point, Clinton announced that she asked the State Department to
release her emails.
Some media labeled the controversy emailgate