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Clinton didn’t follow State Department email policy, watchdog report says

Clinton didn’t follow State Department email policy, watchdog report says

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The State Department inspector general has released its report on email practices, and the result is harshly critical of former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. First made public by The Washington Post, the report (which is embedded below) finds that Clinton's use of a private email server was a clear violation of both State Department and federal security standards. The report stops short of alleging criminal negligence, as the FBI is currently investigating whether Clinton's conduct warrants federal charges.

Many of the findings in the report have been previously reported. Clinton drew criticism last year for conducting official business through an email server located in her New York home, a major security risk. Last July, an intelligence community report found that Clinton sent classified information through that personal account, making it clear that anyone who compromised the system would have had access to deeply sensitive conversations. During the same period, the State Department's non-classified email system was known to have been infiltrated by foreign actors.

The report also examines the email practices of current Secretary of State John Kerry and three earlier officeholders. Former Secretary Colin Powell is criticized for sending official emails from a personal laptop, a potential security risk if the laptop were compromised. Neither Madeleine Albright nor Condoleezza Rice — who served served in the Clinton and Bush administrations, respectively — used email in any official capacity.