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Home Front: WoT
Obama 'concerned' about U.S. State Department handling of classified information
2016-07-10
[Reuters] U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he was concerned about how the State Department handles classified information but cast this as part of a government-wide challenge in the age of email, texts and smartphones.

FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday recommended against prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her aides for their "extremely careless" handling of classified information on the private email server that she used as secretary of state.

Comey said the FBI had found evidence that "the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that's found elsewhere in the U.S. government."

Asked about the FBI director's assessment, Obama told reporters in a news conference: "I am concerned."

"The advent of email and texts and smart phones is just generating enormous amounts of data," Obama added, saying that this, in turn was "putting enormous pressure on the department to sort through it, classify it properly."

Obama said that if one classified too much, the benefits of the information evaporated because it took too long to process. "It reflects a larger problem in government," he added. Clinton has said her use of a private email server was a mistake.
Posted by:Besoeker

#11  Line officers within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and personnel detailed from the services were reliable. Many others, to include those detailed from Kronos, not so much.

My perspectives are very dated. Perhaps things have changed and improved over the past 20-25 years.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-10 17:38  

#10  I found the culture at State incompetent for the most part. While there are good officers and Chiefs, the leadership that allowed the Iraqi refugees in unvetted, in spite of resistance from the FBI and DoD, were criminally negligent...and this culture of negligence (whether it be handling of classified info, or important policy decisions) is what blurs out the good officers deeds. Few if any of the lazy, self-important bad actors are ever held responsible for their incompetent deeds...even Rice could not clean it up.

Posted by: Tennessee   2016-07-10 17:32  

#9  Ditto Billy... and no mention made of the Classified Laptops gone missing over the years.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-10 17:06  

#8  "Comey said the FBI had found evidence that "the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that's found elsewhere in the U.S. government.""

Generally correct - the problem is with the mid-level to super mid-level (think 04/05/06- level) bow ties. The junior ones don't know what they are doing and are untenured. The senior ones have learned that keeping on the right side of the security equation is helpful. The ambitious/arrogant ones in the middle believe their own BS - smartest ones in the room and I could really do great work except for the stupid DS rules.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy   2016-07-10 16:42  

#7  As Maureen Dowd sez if she was still SOS her public career would be over. This is damn Maureen Dowd!
Posted by: Shipman   2016-07-10 14:33  

#6  Champ would have been notified of the arrival of the first NON '.gov' email she would have fired at him from an UNCLAS system. No competent Information Security Officer (ISO) would have failed to make the appropriate notifications and warnings.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-10 12:57  

#5  He knew Hillary was running an off-the-books home server and running classified info on it.

You're sure he doesn't thinks "server" is how low-class people spell serviette?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-10 12:46  

#4  Wall-papering over the mold.
Posted by: Pappy   2016-07-10 12:38  

#3  Scapegoats needed?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-10 09:12  

#2  Another load of B.S. from our esteemed leader. Had he wanted to do anything, he would have done something months ago instead of covering up. He knew Hillary was running an off-the-books home server and running classified info on it. He also knew she was lying about everything. He is covering his own a$$ and trying to salvage his legacy from the dumper. Both he and the Clintons are serial liars.
Posted by: JohnQC   2016-07-10 08:40  

#1  Career Foreign Service personnel at Foggy Bottom were uncooperative. They must now be punished.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-10 05:47  

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