Snowden: Clinton's Private Email Server Is a 'Problem'

An anonymous reader points out comments from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in a new interview with Al Jazeera about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was the U.S. Secretary of State. Snowden said, "Anyone who has the clearances that the Secretary of State has or the director of any top level agency has knows how classified information should be handled. When the unclassified systems of the United States government — which has a full time information security staff — regularly get hacked, the idea that someone keeping a private server ... is completely ridiculous." While Snowden didn't feel he had enough information to say Clinton's actions were a threat to national security, he did say that less prominent government employees would have probably been prosecuted for doing the same thing. For her part, Clinton said she used the private server out of convenience: "I was not thinking a lot when I got in. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be."

Comments

total bullshit?

[mveloso]

Clinton: "I was so busy dealing with the world's problems that instead of using my work email that I get for free I got some guy I knew to build a server for me, my associates, and my husband's foundation."

Does anyone actually believe this line of bullshit?

Re:total bullshit?

[ganjadude]

no but this gem, i believe

I was not thinking a lot

Re:total bullshit?

[fustakrakich]

Does anyone actually believe this line of bullshit?

Unfortunately, yes... It should be obvious. Lots of people are going to vote for her regardless... There's not a lot that be done. Maybe, if we can wake up the non-voting block, it might be possible to defeat democrats and republicans. Even together they are a minority block of less than 40%.

Re:total bullshit?

[rmdingler]

no but this gem, i believe

I was not thinking a lot

We hold some truths to be self-evident.

I mean, FFS, the Clintons have been in positions of power for what? 36 years... (since the 1st term began as Governor of Arkansas.)

It's clear she should have an inkling how to act in office, and yet, like so many of the political ilk, she uses her skills for evil instead of good.

Re:total bullshit?

[TWX]

Does anyone actually believe this line of bullshit?

Honestly, if she was using the e-mail address associated with that SMTP server before she become Secretary of State, yes.

Most people don't like to use several e-mail accounts. It's a pain in the butt. If she was used to using that one and used it as she communicated with the officials that became her superiors and subordinates before becoming Secretary of State while planning the transition, then they were used to contacting here there and she was used to contacting them from there.

Should she have switched to a government-provided e-mail account? Probably. I don't say, "absolutely," specifically because of the high profile leaks that we've seen over the last decade, such that the mail might actually have been safer on that server that no one thought to compromise than on a government one.

As an aside, Governor Palin used private e-mail for government functions too, actually registering addresses with public mail servers (yahoo if I remember right) after becoming Governor of Alaska, and specifically citing her newly-found position as the account name. There was no prosecution over that either.

Re:total bullshit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. She thought she wasn't leaving a paper trail which could lalter be used against her if she said or did something she might later regret.

Re:total bullshit?

[davester666]

I'm sure it was more like "The rules only apply the schlubs, they don't apply to me."

Re:total bullshit?

[roccomaglio]

Way to muddy the waters. Palin used her official state email. She also used a yahoo email. It is illegal to use official email for campaigning tasks. So you have to have both. Someone hacked her yahoo account and release all her emails. She did not get to decide what was released. All of her emails were released she did not get to pick which ones were released. Hillary not only picked the emails that were released she carefully wiped the server with multiple writes to prevent anyone from being able to recover emails. If she had used yahoo the FBI which is investigating her emails activity (classified TS/SCI information) could have received a copy of all her emails.

Re:total bullshit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaks or not, the law says she was supposed to use her secure government-provided email for work. She ignored that law.

No it didn't say that till two years after she left office. Also the government email isn't secure and can only be used for non secure communication.

Nice cherry-pick, but her home email server is not considered secure communications either. I'll address the "two years after she left office" below.

Secure communications require usage of an internal distribution server that is secure and is not actually email.

What in the fuck are you talking about? Secure communications are carried out using the same fucking tools as unclassified communications on networks that appear *nearly* the fucking the same to end-users. In this context, ZOMFG, Hillary is an end-user. One that is a headache for admins, but an end-fucking-user nonetheless.

There is literally nothing Hillary could do better on her home server than she could do on the state department's servers, except violate the Federal Records Act; unless of course your argument is that the functional portion of 44 U.S. Code 3101 (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, 506(a), as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, 6(d),64 Stat. 58) was not in effect when Hillary left office in Feb 2013 (hint: she was just shy of 3 when the law went into effect). For fuck's sake, the law was modified halfway through her term, by Obama's executive order and she still fucked that up (regardless of your feelings about EOrders and their impact on Federal agencies, agency heads are expected to salute the flagpole or GTFO).

I find it really hard to believe neither of the lawyers in that family could see that was a bad idea. I picture the dumber of the two saying something to the effect of "Um, hon, running an email server out of the house for SECSTATE business is dumber than me sticking a cigar up Monica's hoo-hoo and then cumming on her dress."

Look! I'd really, really like to embrace Hillary as a candidate, but I find her history of sneaky, slimy, dishonesty fairly well established.

I also hate every Republican candidate, for varying reasons. I hope I'm not put into a position of choosing between one of them and her in the ballot booth.

Quit trying to defend her. Stop siding with THEM. I gives a fuck - one side or the other PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, FLOAT A CANDIDATE THAT IS SOMETHING OTHER THAN A FUNCTIONAL RETARD SLURPING ON THE GENITALS OF MULTIPLE 501(c)(3) PACs.

Let us all stop being sheep, please.

And she wants to be President!

[Anonymous Coward]

She doesn't understand why this is a big deal, and says "I was not thinking a lot when I got in. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be." - really? She's the Secretary of State and doesn't think of security? Why would anyone want to see her as President?

Re:And she wants to be President!

[Anonymous Coward]

We had so many problems around the world. I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be.

And she wants to have her finger on The Button (tm). Doesn't anyone else find this disturbing?

Trying to be dismissive

[93 Escort Wagon]

We had so many problems around the world. I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be.

It's obvious she's trying to imply that there were lots of important issues to deal with, and she didn't want to waste time on trivialities. But she's wrong.

The role of Secretary of State often deals with sensitive information from both our own government, governments of other nations, and opposition groups living under repressive regimes. Safeguarding that information is paramount. Being dismissive regarding the security aspects of an important communications tool that was routinely used for classified comminications is troubling because, no matter which way you try to spin it, she comes off either as ignorant or supremely arrogant (or perhaps both). Yes, there was unrest all over, Hillary - and you don't see how mishandling sensitive information about that unrest was problematic?

I'm not looking forward to this next election. Whether you look to the left or to the right, it's clowns all the way down.

Oh, Democrats know she's lying too

[Anonymous Coward]

But they have to pretend she wan't because they know they'll end up holding their nose and voting for her anyway.

Because it's their graft, dishonesty and corruption, and Republicans can never be allowed to win, ever, for any reason.

Re:Total Innocence

[Snotnose]

Doesn't matter. First, she should have known that as SoS classified information would be flowing through that server. Second, she was ordered by a court to turn over all her emails. She stonewalled as long as she could, then printed out some of the email (the ones she deemed 'important'), then wiped the server and claimed there were no backups.

You or I would be sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial for either of these. She's not only running for president, she's got a large majority of idiots willing to vote for her. I don't give a squat about her positions on any issues. She is corrupt, slippery, slimey, and elitist.

I sincerely hope Biden runs. Not because I think he'll win, but hopefully that will be the final straw that brings other, better democrats out of the woodwork to run for president. As things go now it's looking the the repubs are going to win the White House next year.

Re:And she wants to be President!Bullshit..

[subk]

I think she knew *exactly* what she wanted in an email server. This is classic "double speak"

Re:Not to overplay the "ironic" label, but...

[towermac]

What is this history of public service? She had a Senate seat that was given to her, simply as preparation to be President. As if she's from New York, or anywhere near it...

Well, she did make a 10,000% profit in commodities in six months, and giant profits on Arkansas land deals while her husband was Governor. I'll grant those feats are pretty impressive. Not as impressive as a 'charity' foundation that rakes in many millions from overseas billionaires while she is simultaneously Secretary of State. What public service, exactly, has that charity funded by the way?

That's what I see in the 'public record' AC. What do you see?