Did Hillary fire an Ambassador for using private email?

[Savannahmann]

The answer seems to be sort of. It was one of the things listed in the review of the Embassy as a violation, and the Ambassador was fired. Part of the reason he was fired was......



Now, this Ambassador was fired while Hillary was Secretary of State. The Ambassador was interviewed, and as expected it was ugly for our side.

A former ambassador now entangled in the storm over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail account fired back at the State Department Friday, disputing claims that he made a determined effort to conduct official business via an e-mail system not under government control.

In a lengthy e-mail to POLITICO and other news outlets, Scott Gration, a former Air Force general who served as ambassador to Kenya, brushed aside comparisons between his situation and Clinton’s. However, Gration acknowledged that his dismissal in 2012 — while Clinton was secretary — was due in part to the department’s resistance to his efforts to have easy access to his Gmail account while he served as the top U.S. diplomat in Nairobi.

There are three possible answers to this conundrum. First, it could be argued that Hillary didn't know they fired an Ambassador. Second it could be argued that she didn't know why they fired an Ambassador. Finally it could be argued that she didn't see a problem firing someone for doing what she was also doing.

The IG report is here.

So while it may be legal for Hillary to use a private email account to conduct business. It is at best hypocritical for her to do so given the circumstances raised in this news story.

[leftofcool]

1. Good Lord! The dimwit had an "Gmail" account which is even less secure than AOHell or Yahoo.

Not the same as having a private server which has already been pretty much debunked.

[OKNancy]

2. Oh good grief... just stop.. he was an asshole

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/104484/why-scott-gration-us-ambassador-kenya-really-resigned

"Some people had to go to some real shit holes to escape him."

Attrition rates at the Nairobi Embassy were staggeringly high, said a former U.S. government official who worked on Sudan. Many of Gration's staff opted to be transferred to the highly dangerous Iraq and Afghanistan embassies rather than continue to work for him. "Some people had to go to some real shit holes to escape him," said the former official. Gration made capricious policy that hurt staff morale. At one point, he told his staff that they could either sacrifice the extra pay they make for working in a volatile region, a State Department sacred cow, or he would force their spouses and children to leave the country. (In Kenya, officers are allowed to bring their families and collect 'post differential' pay).

[Savannahmann]

10. He may well have been an asshole of epic proportions.

But the IG report that was the foundation of his termination mentions among other violations the use of personal email to conduct official business. Now, it may have been the normal nitpicking that an employer uses to justify in writing the desire to get rid of a problem employee, but it was a policy and it was violated wasn't it?

[pkdu]

3. Or Four...

You missed the following in your own OP.

a. "he assumed charge of the missions information management operations"
b. "He ordered a commercial internet connection installed in his embassy office bathroom"
c. "He drafted and distributed a mission policy authorizing himself and other mission personnel to use commercial email for daily communication of official government business"
d. "compounded the problem on several occasions by publicly berating members of the staff, attacking them personally, loudly questioning their competence , and threatening career-ending disciplinary actions"


Which..

"sapped the resources and morale of a busy and understaffed information management staff as it supports the largest embassy in sub-Saharan Africa"

Geez

[TwilightGardener]

4. There was an internal cable from Hillary to all State employees to not use

personal accounts because they were insecure. But really, the difference between Ambassador Gration and Hillary is that Gration HAD A GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT AND MOSTLY USED IT FOR OFFICIAL BUSINESS.

[Savannahmann]

5. Wait a minute.

Are you saying no one at the State Department would give Hillary an email account?

[TwilightGardener]

8. She never set one up. She never had one.

[Savannahmann]

9. So Hillary could have had one, but declined?

Because the IG report finds fault with the Ambassador for not following policy in using the supplied State Department email system for sensitive data. Now, unless we are going to assume that nobody sent Hillary an email with Sensitive But Unclassified data to her email address, an assumption that would require a suspension of disbelief sufficient to make Hogwarts a real school, then we have at least a violation of policy that was one of the contributing factors in the termination of an Ambassador.

[TwilightGardener]

11. She declined. She never had a .gov account. She completely and deliberately

bypassed the federal government's email system and set up her own server at her house, for herself and staff members, for all State emailing. Yes, she violated a policy that was subsequently enforced--harshly--for at least one of her subordinates.

[leftofcool]

6. He had a Gmail account. That is NOT a government account.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I read a full interview--he used a government account for most of his official

business. He used gmail for "unofficial" business--arguable what "unofficial" is, but he did have a government account, apparently. He said he kept two blackberries to separate his accounts.