Hillary Clinton wasn’t very SMART

http://oig.state.gov/system/files/isp-i-15-15.pdf

OIG made seven recommendations to improve the use of record emails by Department of State employees and mission staff members.

• OIG recommended establishing a process to review record email usage across missions and bureaus, as well as issuing guidance to Department of State employees and mission staff members that specifies their record-keeping responsibilities, provides examples to guide choices among cables and record and working emails, and suggests the establishment of record email policies.
• OIG recommended convening functionally defined focus groups to identify practical examples of official records;
• canvassing through focus groups in all bureaus periodically to identify obstacles to the use of SMART for record emails and cables;
• establishing an Electronic Records Management Working Group to advise on record emails and related issues;
• making introductory and refresher courses on records management a requirement for Department of State employees.
• OIG also recommended expanding the Foreign Service Institute’s current record email training curriculum to include hands-on SMART client and classroom training
• additional material on record-keeping requirements.

Hillary owns the server—no chance to find the truth

“I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.”–Hillary Clinton

Sharyl Attkisson reports

“In a statement, a [Benghazi] committee spokesman added, “The former Secretary’s tweet does not answer questions about why this was not done when she left office, the integrity of the emails while she controlled them, the scheme to conceal them, or the failure to provide them in logical course. The Chairman has said the former secretary is welcome to and should release all of her emails, but legitimate investigations do not consider partial records. And that is the point of the subpoena issued yesterday by the Benghazi Committee.”

Clinton ally David Brock, head of the liberal blog Media Matters and Chairman of the Board at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is among the political operatives rushing to Clinton’s defense. In a appearance on MSNBC this week, Brock deployed his common tactic of demanding a retraction from the news outlet publishing the revealing information about Clinton–in this case, the New York Times.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/07/emails-show-clinton-aides-running-interference-during-benghazi-attack/

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/hillary-clinton-media-105901_Page6.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/state-dept-changes-story-on-emails-115841.html?ml=m_po

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mark-davis/2015/03/06/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-server-for-official-emails-put-her-at-risk

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/politics/hillary-clinton-email-home-server/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/state-department-reviewing-whether-clinton-e-mail-violated-security-rules/2015/03/05/16d1547e-c378-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html

Doesn't look like America

On C-SPAN this morning there was a droning, boring press conference with Sean McCormack of the State Department (yesterday). It followed the usual format: the reporter jams as much information into the question, including long quotes from government documents, as he can, then twists it to try to catch the administration official, knowing it won't be answered. Then the spokesman says something to the effect, "I can't speak to that," or "I'll have to check on that and get back to you," or "As you well know, the Congress blah, blah,. . ."

The final question was on diversity in the State Department--and why doesn't it look more like America, and could he supply specific numbers. He agreed; it doesn't look like America, despite goals and plans, and that he would look into the rules and regulations about which department has those figures.

The camera angle/view then moved back as the event ended and the press corp stood up to leave the room (before this I hadn't seen how many people were in the room, but the spokesman knew them all by name). Interestingly, that group didn't look like America either. I think I saw two women (although with clothing styles, it is hard to tell), and maybe two people of color, one of whom was foreign (from the accent). Pot to Kettle.