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Author Topic: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.  (Read 11033 times)

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Online CC27

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I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« on: March 03, 2015, 12:05:14 PM »
Quote
Proud Public Servant (1,533 posts)

I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.


So Hillary's failure to use government email for government purposes is blowing up today, perhaps rightly. (Certainly, DUers spare no scorn or outrage for Republicans when they do this kind of thing). I thought you might be interested in one person's inside-the-Department perspective. Here's what I'd note:

- Hillary at State was famous for being a Luddite. That hip tumblr of pics of her on her BlackBerry notwithstanding, she apparently didn't even have a computer on her desk and used to ask staffers to print out important email for her to read.

- State is famously behind the times when it comes to digital technology. When Colin Powell arrived in 2001, he called IT to his office because nothing seemed to be loading in his web browser. The techs patiently explained that that was because his computer wasn't connected to the internet; no desktop computers at State were. But if he wanted to get on the internet, there was a handy desk in a room down the hall that he could use! Powell changed that right away (it's one of the reason that State rank-and-file, who are overwhelmingly liberal Dems, regard Powell as the best Secretary they've ever worked for) but its systems still provide an inferior user experience compared to most people's private computers. (One example: Internet Explorer 7 came out in 2006; Internet Explorer 6 was the only browser available on most State desktops until 2012 or '13.)

- As bad as State's desktop systems were (and are), remote access is much, much worse. Using personal email for business is not all that uncommon at State precisely because, away from the desk, State email is notorious for its slow pace and frequent outages.

- Lots of people can live with crappy email and slow communications. The Secretary's staff can't. I've was on embassy staff for two different Hillary visits, and worked directly with her staff while she was on the ground (met her, too; she was lovely, her staff were the demon spawn of Hell -- and not especially competent demon spawn, either). These folks needed to be in constant, immediate communication with each other; State email was not a reliable tool for that.

So, there's your picture: a not especially tech-savvy Secretary and a wonky email system that was especially bad when accessed remotely -- and Hillary was always on the go.

I'm not a big Hillary fan, but I can absolutely understand why she would have stuck with a system she already knew, and already knew worked. That doesn't make it right, but it does suggest it may not be nefarious. Hanlon's razor applies: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

I doubt the DUmmie works there. Probably read that somewhere .
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Offline JohnnyReb

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2015, 12:46:04 PM »
So, yahoo e-mail beats government e-mail by a mile......but government run healthcare is going to be just fine. :hammer:
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Offline FaC

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2015, 12:57:02 PM »
We need to pay attention to this one - I can see a potential self inflicted WallDuding. I suspect that the powers that be at the State Department will not appreciate him (or her) speaking publicly on the matter.

FWIW
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2015, 01:13:37 PM »
If Colin Powell could see the IT was crap in his time as SOS and upgrade it without any obstacles, Hillary in the exact same position could have done the same as far as upgrading the remote access. 

And as far as she and her entourage being on tour and not being able to rely on their 'Email,' they'd normally use secure telecommunications for important stuff, not email, because remote secure access to sensitive email is painfully slow and difficult to negotiate even when it works, and using personal email in lieu of it in a foreign country completely defeats the whole "Secure" part of that.  You'd actually have better security calling back to State on a burner Quickie-Mart phone than using personal email.
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Offline FaC

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2015, 01:18:08 PM »
I do have to admit that the raccoon whisperer is giving her fellow DUmmies absolute hell in this thread....

And we are off:

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
9. She also famously stated that she

hadn't driven a car since 1996.

I don't know about you, but someone that detached from the reality of most folks isn't going to be my first choice of a candidate.

I'm a loyal Democrat, but I'm not that damn loyal.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
19. Same bullshit

different day.

It drives me nuts. And we are supposed to adhere to political loyalty to people that regularly don't follow the law, and don't hold their own political equals to the law, either?

It's just the same circus over and over again in Washington. I'm no more outraged anymore than I was when Bush did it, because I was outraged then, too. Boo-hoo, they are attacking Democrats. Boo-hoo, they are attacking Republicans.

Boo-hoo, they aren't following the law, and that is the problem.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
34. Excuse me?

Archiving communications by politicians didn't become law in 2014. It has been the LAW for about 2 centuries.

This isn't something new - good heavens.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
46. I am uniquely qualified

to speak on this issue, since I have administered email servers for YEARS.

I absolutely know the law regarding this, and anyone that tries to pretend that this is a new "thing" or a new "law" is talking out of their ass.

Journaling email has absolutely been a requirement for decades for the financial industry and for political purposes.

I'm going to put the damn brakes on this situation of someone is saying that archiving is not a requirement. I know for a FACT that it absolutely is, and I was pissed when Bush and Cheney attempted to evade archiving. Am I supposed to give Hillary a pass when she does it?

Why, yes. Yes you are...

Quote
Dr Hobbitstein (1,490 posts)
82. Hillary archived her email.

She delivered 55,000 emails to the Benghazi panels.

No one is arguing that ARCHIVING was not a requirement. What's being argued is that using government email systems was NOT a requirement until 2014. Which is true.

She violated no laws here.

[sarc] I am absolutely certain that HIllary turned over every last mail, did not skip any and and did not lose any [/sarc]

The whole point is that if she had chosen to follow the proscribed process we would not be having this disturbing conversation.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
62. And

It wasn't legal. Try me. This is not a new law.

You can dress it up as something new, but the fact remains that using outside email accounts, nevermind the security implications, does not bypass the fact that they are required by law to be archived.

Pick one. It's either ridiculously violating the law, or recklessly violating security policy.

The truth is, it's BOTH.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
84. Hillary Clinton is a lawyer

She used a personal email account to evade the law that all politicians must have their correspondence archived.

I don't know why you think people are stupid on DU, but ...duh... you use an outside account to evade archiving and add in a security problem to boot.

Is it wise to be discussing national security issues on a different account than the proper channels? No, it isn't. It's not like she was Secretary of State or anything and discussed things of national security.

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
70. I have

over a decade of experience to back up my facts on the laws regarding archiving email.

I can't believe I have to give a lesson, on DU of all places, that Democrats should obey the law just like Republicans should.

Seriously?

Quote
Aerows (29,430 posts)
77. Hillary is a lawyer

She knows the law. She knew exactly what she was doing when she evaded the archiving system.

This isn't some newfangled law that just came into being last week, it has been in place for 2 decades.

You know it, I know it, and Hillary knows it, as do her opponents. If you don't want to get tagged for breaking the law, an excellent place to start is not breaking it in the first place.

Winner of today's "even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut" contest

« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 01:20:11 PM by FaC »
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Offline franksolich

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2015, 01:26:22 PM »
Quote from: FaC on March 03, 2015, 01:18:08 PM
I do have to admit that the raccoon whisperer is giving her fellow DUmmies absolute hell in this thread....

And we are off:

Why, yes. Yes you are...

[sarc] I am absolutely certain that HIllary turned over every last mail, did not skip any and and did not lose any [/sarc]

The whole point is that if she had chosen to follow the proscribed process we would not be having this disturbing conversation.

Winner of today's "even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut" contest

Whoa, that's pretty awesome, the way the raccoon-shy primitive laid down the facts.

She knows what she's talking about, and it'd be a good idea for the primitives to pay attention.
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2015, 01:28:59 PM »
Wow, you're right, Aerows is ripping them a new one, and she's all chock full of harsh truthiness.
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Offline Texacon

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2015, 03:24:54 PM »
Quote from: FaC on March 03, 2015, 01:18:08 PM

Winner of today's "even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut" contest

Or would that be; even a blind coon can find a toe?!

Or am I thinking of the wrong DUmmie?

KC
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Offline Big Dog

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2015, 03:28:50 PM »
Quote from: FaC on March 03, 2015, 01:18:08 PM
Winner of today's "even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut" contest

Aw, man! You could have hit it out of the park with "even the blind raccoon'.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2015, 08:52:00 AM by Big Dog »
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Offline obumazombie

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2015, 03:57:29 PM »
Hitlery is taking it on the chin.
She is getting beaten with a non official email ugly stick.
Someone beat her to it.
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Offline SVPete

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2015, 04:13:30 PM »
Let's try to give a little context on the tech side.

Email has been around, within computer companies, since the early 1980s, if not the 1970s.

The Internet went fully public in the mid-1990s.

If SecState Powell really did find the State Dept. behind the times, it was by a factor of less than a decade.

Powell was SecState 14 years ago, so I don't believe SecState Clinton did not have reliable email service available to her within the State Dept. It simply is not credible. Using less than the latest SW, I could believe, since government often vets SW and OSes to be sure they have clean copies w/o malware. And if The Chill is so Luddite, what's with setting up her own email server. Talk about an oxymoron!

The best explanation is the simplest. The Chill knowingly evaded laws regarding official emails by government officials.
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Offline obumazombie

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2015, 04:34:30 PM »
What difference, at this point...does it make ?
I'll bet a lot of incriminating Benghazi (3am call) emails were in Clinton's illegal personal email account...

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2015/03/03/nbcs-lauer-hillary-clinton-email-scandal-gives-lay-critics

The owebumaManiaMedia is upset that they have to report on Hitlery's lawlessness.
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Offline wasp69

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2015, 04:40:39 PM »
Quote
Proud Public Servant (1,533 posts)

- Hillary at State was famous for being a Luddite. That hip tumblr of pics of her on her BlackBerry notwithstanding, she apparently didn't even have a computer on her desk and used to ask staffers to print out important email for her to read.

She doesn't use email because she doesn't want evidence, DUmbass.
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Offline thundley4

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #13 on: March 03, 2015, 05:01:04 PM »
Quote
But if he wanted to get on the internet, there was a handy desk in a room down the hall that he could use! Powell changed that right away (it's one of the reason that State rank-and-file, who are overwhelmingly liberal Dems, regard Powell as the best Secretary they've ever worked for)

Damn, up until then, all those poor democrat workers at State couldn't surf porn. No wonder they like Colin Powell.
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Offline SVPete

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #14 on: March 03, 2015, 06:24:30 PM »
The more I think on the story in this DU post, the more I'm convinced it's mostly :bouncy: . E.G. If DeptState is so technologically backwards, how did SecState Clinton access her emails? IOW, too many inconsistent factoids.
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #15 on: March 03, 2015, 06:45:47 PM »
Quote from: SVPete on March 03, 2015, 06:24:30 PM
The more I think on the story in this DU post, the more I'm convinced it's mostly :bouncy: . E.G. If DeptState is so technologically backwards, how did SecState Clinton access her emails? IOW, too many inconsistent factoids.

It's still like a torpedo with a stuck rudder, the fault all comes back to her anyway.  Even if everything in the tale is true, she had all the positional power necessary to fix it and comply with the law and IT policy, she just chose to slough it.
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Offline GOBUCKS

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #16 on: March 03, 2015, 06:50:08 PM »
Quote
I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.

This DUmmy uses surprisingly good English for a housekeeper.
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Offline docstew

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #17 on: March 03, 2015, 06:51:57 PM »
Having been in DOD for the past almost 16 years and observing the slow acceptance of IT in gov't agencies, I call BS that State is that far behind. They contract a lot of it out (ie, buy large batches of identical computers and retrofit old buildings to support connectivity), and you can't tell me that State doesn't have any money appropriated for secure and archived communication...
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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #18 on: March 03, 2015, 08:03:01 PM »
Quote from: SVPete on March 03, 2015, 06:24:30 PM
The more I think on the story in this DU post, the more I'm convinced it's mostly :bouncy: . E.G. If DeptState is so technologically backwards, how did SecState Clinton access her emails? IOW, too many inconsistent factoids.

The tale started with "SO".
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Offline JakeStyle

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2015, 08:09:59 PM »
Proud Public Servant maybe works as a call center operator if at all.
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Offline miskie

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #20 on: March 03, 2015, 08:27:50 PM »
Hey Primitives ---

I seem to recall that you were all UP IN ARMS over Palin conducting a fraction of her business as Governor of Alaska using a private EMail account.

What happened to all of that righteous indignation ? It seems it has morphed into finding excuses for a similar (except its worse... way worse) transgression when the person responsible is one of your own.

Which brings me to this. Hillary must either think she is entitled, she is dumber than a box of rocks, or both. The reaming that the media gave Sarah Palin was severe, with plenty of articles still on the web by leftists demanding her head on a platter.

Yet Lady Cankles of Chappaqua goes ahead and does it anyway.

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Offline ChuckJ

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #21 on: March 03, 2015, 08:32:13 PM »
Quote from: GOBUCKS on March 03, 2015, 06:50:08 PM
This DUmmy uses surprisingly good English for a housekeeper.

I think you're giving too much credit. A DUmmie beginning a sentence of "I work at" is very similar to "once upon a time" unless the "I work at" is followed by something like "being stupid" and/or "scamming the government."
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Offline Ptarmigan

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #22 on: March 03, 2015, 11:49:28 PM »
Quote from: FaC on March 03, 2015, 12:57:02 PM
We need to pay attention to this one - I can see a potential self inflicted WallDuding. I suspect that the powers that be at the State Department will not appreciate him (or her) speaking publicly on the matter.

FWIW

Yeah, if he or she really works there.
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Offline 98ZJUSMC

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #23 on: March 04, 2015, 02:21:08 AM »
Quote from: JohnnyReb on March 03, 2015, 12:46:04 PM
So, yahoo e-mail beats government e-mail by a mile......but government run healthcare is going to be just fine. :hammer:

[(D)Ummie] H8er! hOmOpHobE!1!!!11!!![/(D)Ummie]
« Last Edit: March 04, 2015, 02:25:15 AM by 98ZJUSMC »
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Offline 98ZJUSMC

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Re: I work at the State Dept. Let's talk email.
« Reply #24 on: March 04, 2015, 02:24:08 AM »
Quote from: miskie on March 03, 2015, 08:27:50 PM
Hey Primitives ---

I seem to recall that you were all UP IN ARMS over Palin conducting a fraction of her business as Governor of Alaska using a private EMail account.

What happened to all of that righteous indignation ? It seems it has morphed into finding excuses for a similar (except its worse... way worse) transgression when the person responsible is one of your own.

Which brings me to this. Hillary must either think she is entitled, she is dumber than a box of rocks, or both. The reaming that the media gave Sarah Palin was severe, with plenty of articles still on the web by leftists demanding her head on a platter.

Yet Lady Cankles of Chappaqua goes ahead and does it anyway.


...and Palins' was not illegal.  PIAPS, definitely so.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2015, 02:26:39 AM by 98ZJUSMC »
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