Pentagon chief Carter calls use of personal email account 'a mistake'

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Thu Dec 17, 2015 10:16am EST

Pentagon chief Carter calls use of personal email account 'a mistake'

WASHINGTON

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday his occasional use of a personal email account for work-related matters was "a mistake," and he stopped a few months ago once it was clear to him that the practice was against policy, CBS News reported.

Carter, speaking from an American base in Erbil, northern Iraq, told CBS that he never sent anything classified from his personal account but did occasionally send "administrative" emails to his "immediate staff" from his iPhone.

Carter's use of a private account was first reported by the New York Times on Wednesday.

It follows a controversy surrounding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who used only a personal email account connected to a private server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. The issue has dogged her campaign for the November 2016 election and sparked an FBI investigation.

Carter, who said he does not communicate by email very much, told CBS he had been repeatedly warned to be cautious with his communications after taking the Pentagon's top job in February.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-carter-idUSKBN0U024V20151217

[TwilightGardener]

1. "Once it was clear to him that the practice was against policy"--

he spent DECADES at the Pentagon. He was Deputy Defense Secretary for three years. He took office during the initial furor over Clinton's email/server use. He was told not to do this. His staff disapproved. Did it anyway. Why hasn't he been asked by Obama to step down?