September 2016

On Sept 2, the Federal Bureau of Investigations published a 58-page redacted memorandum on the investigation of the mishandling of classified information by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The memo includes details from Clinton's interview with the FBI and a summary of other interviews the FBI conducted during the yearlong investigation. During her three-and-a-half-hour interview with FBI investigators, Hillary Clinton said that she had used a personal e-mail account "out of convenience" because she only wanted to carry a single mobile device—and the State Department would not allow her to connect a work device to her personal e-mail. She said she had no recollection of anyone voicing concerns over the arrangement. But the FBI investigation found records of an exchange with former Secretary of State Colin Powell on the topic, where he warned her of the risks and told her how he had "gotten around it."

The FBI report shows that Clinton generally allowed others to make decisions about how to support her Blackberry habit and that the private mail server she used was run largely at the direction of former President Bill Clinton's staff. And while the FBI did not find that Clinton did anything criminal, the investigation revealed a generally lax approach to security overall by the State Department, Clinton's staff, and Clinton herself. Clinton told the FBI that she "did not pay attention to the level of classification of information and took all classified information seriously," the FBI memo reports. But she was unable to identify the meaning of "(C)" (Confidential) content markings in an e-mail, speculating in the interview that it had something to do with paragraphs that were supposed to be in alphabetical order. She demonstrated a limited understanding of procedures for classification of information—even though she was designated as an Original Classification Authority, someone authorized to set the level of classification on information.