During Hillary Clinton's time as SoS, what was the state of the internal

[MineralMan]

email and computer system at the State Department. What were they using as an email client? If State is like most federal departments, the state of it's computer system could have been 80's style technology. New stories today are talking about the DoD still using 8" floppy disks...1970's technology.

Outdated computer technology is everywhere in federal government. So, does anyone know how the State Department's computer system was configured at the time? I don't, and I haven't seen any articles on that subject.

[lagomorph777]

1. I haven't been at State, but have been at another agency

that agency had perfectly normal, well-maintained e-mail systems. Even their classified systems were decently usable.

[LiberalFighter]

2. Some excerpts from the report

At the Department, compliance with this regulation and preservation of emails that constitute Federal records can be accomplished in one of three ways: print and file; incorporation into the State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART); or the use of the NARA-approved Capstone program for capturing the emails of designated senior officials. Since 1995, the FAM has instructed employees, “until technology allowing archival capabilities for long-term electronic storage and retrieval of E-mail messages is available and installed,” emails warranting preservation as records must be printed out and filed with related Department records. NARA regulations codified in 2009 also specified that agencies must not use an electronic mail system to store the recordkeeping copy of electronic mail messages identified as Federal records unless that system contains specific features. However, according to the Department, its technology has “lagged behind” this mandate.

In 2009, IRM introduced SMART throughout the Department, enabling employees to preserve a record copy of emails through their Department email accounts without having to print and file them. However, the Office of the Secretary elected not to use SMART to preserve emails, in part because of concerns that the system would allow overly broad access to sensitive materials. As a result, printing and filing remained the only method by which emails could properly be preserved within the Office of the Secretary in full compliance with existing FAM guidance.

According to a 2010 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, most agencies do not prioritize records management, as evidenced by lack of staff and budget resources, absence of up-to-date policies and procedures, lack of training, and lack of accountability.

While these are positive steps, OIG identified multiple email and other electronic records management issues during the course of this evaluation. In its technical comments on this report, the Department noted that its budget has been declining over the past years and has not kept pace with inflation at a time when its national security mission is growing. According to the Department, it did request additional resources for records management for fiscal year 2017, but additional funding will still be needed to fully address its records management challenges.

[jmg257]

8. "However, the Office of the Secretary elected not to use SMART to preserve emails,

However, the Office of the Secretary elected not to use SMART to preserve emails, in part because of concerns that the system would allow overly broad access to sensitive materials.

[LiberalFighter]

9. AND

As a result, printing and filing remained the only method by which emails could properly be preserved within the Office of the Secretary in full compliance with existing FAM guidance.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Maybe you haven't seen any articles on it because it's not relevant.

Speed limit laws were written before there were gas shocks, rack and pinion steering, and steel-belted radial tires. If you get a ticket for speeding, do you go into court using that as a way to get the ticket excused?

[libtodeath]

4. Even if it was poor why would you not improve it for compliance instead of just doing your own thing

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. As SOS wouldn't it be her job to make sure it was updated and secure?

[IdaBriggs]

12. Stop making sense! They even gave her unspent budget money for that!

You are acting like it was her job to MANAGE HER TEAM AND THEIR RESOURCES.

Obviously she wouldn't have been such an utter failure at that, if she knew it was her job....

[Jitter65]

6. It was horrible. And I believe that Hillary started efforts to fix it. I thought I read that. nt

[NWCorona]

11. Nope! Hillary didn't do jack about IT regardless of the fact she had a budget increase to do so.

The State's infrastructure was severely weakened during Hillary's tenure.

[HumanityExperiment]

7. ...Private Email SERVER...

Issue isn't email address, issue is the private email server...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/clinton-broke-federal-rules-email-server-audit-finds-n580131

Odd that HRC supporters steer away from that point

"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton violated federal records rules through her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, a State Department audit has concluded.

"At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department issues before leaving government service," says an audit by the State Department Inspector General, obtained by NBC News.

"Because she did not do so, she did not comply with the [State] Department's policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act."

[IdaBriggs]

10. Go read the IG report. Your answers can be found there.

But please do not attempt to explain Hillary's egregious violations as "bad technology" issues.

Her solutions did not involve convenience. They were cover up for corruption.

[NWCorona]

13. There's also the fact that Hillary could have improved the state's systems but didn't.

[MohRokTah]

14. For one thing, outside the State Dept. internal network, you could not access email

I know personally how bad it was.

Now, the DoD has state of the art and the single most secure network in the world because they run off the same infrastructure the NSA uses. Barack Obama's own Blackberry is on that netwkr and he accesses email in the most secure manner from anywhere in the world.

You'd think the NSA would demand that State be put on this infrastructure, too, but NO! State had to have its own infrastructure and could never ever be on the NSA/DoD infrastructure. The stupidity is incredible.

[Avalux]

15. It doesn't matter.

Even if they still use floppy disks, doesn't in any way justify Hillary's "mistake" in using a private server that she "thought was allowed". With no IG in place and no audit trail of her State Department emails, she had complete control. A nice and convenient setup to use her position as SoS to funnel money to the Clinton Foundation.