Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told Hillary Clinton at the start of her tenure at the State Department that he used a personal computer to conduct government business, and took steps to avoid “going through the State Department servers”.
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In his email to Clinton, Powell did warn her about the potential for her personal emails to become public. An FBI investigation revealed that Clinton had used her private email server for dozens of conversations that included classified materials, including eight that included top secret information. And she has said she did so for convenience, not to skirt government record-keeping requirements.
In the email exchange Powell wrote “there is a real danger”.
Powell responded by telling Clinton he didn’t use a BlackBerry but detailed how he used his own personal computer to communicate with friends and “do business” with foreign leaders and senior State Department officials who had personal email accounts.
Powell describes how he communicated with friends without going through State Department servers. He mentioned that he also did the same thing while he was on the road.
A 2009 email exchange between Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell saw the retired general give the candidate advice about communications at the State Department. “They never satisfied me and NSA/CIA wouldn’t back off”.
Clinton, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, has said her decision was wrong, but it has continued to dog her effort to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November 8 election. Or something embedded in my shoe heel. “So we just went about our business and stopped asking”, he said. He said he used an “ancient” version of a PDA – the predecessor of the modern-day smart phone.
Powell believed that the electromagnetic shielding around the SCIF area made it hard to get a wireless signal out. Namely, Powell acted pretty similarly to Clinton. Clinton’s email to Powell is dated January 23, 2009. He said his AOL account was only used for nonclassified personal communications and that all classified emails were opened exclusively using a desktop computer inside his office in Foggy Bottom, never on personal devices such as a Blackberry. I’ve been told that the DSS personnel knew you had one and used it but no one fesses up to knowing how you used it!
“President Obama has struck a blow for berry addicts like us”, she wrote.
Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on “Examining FOIA Compliance at the Department of State”.
“When combined with her surprising ignorance of the State’s archiving system, or lack thereof, it reflects poorly on her judgment”, he said. Her aides have said she was too technologically inept to use a computer for email.
The email corroborates what Clinton told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about Powell’s advice to her, according to transcripts of her interview released last week.
“Be very careful”, he added. He also gave Clinton tips on how to get around the security that was on offer since “their job is to keep you hermetically sealed up”.
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