Obama administration may have a fourth big scandal

American Thinker ^ | June 4, 2013 | Thomas Lifson

[jazusamo]

The Associated Press has uncovered what may become a vast new scandal for the Obama administration: the possibly widespread use of covert email accounts by political appointees, enabling evasion of sunshine laws designed to protect the public. Jack Gillium of AP reports:

Some of President Barack Obama's political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press.

The scope of using the secret accounts across government remains a mystery: Most U.S. agencies have failed to turn over lists of political appointees' email addresses, which the AP sought under the Freedom of Information Act more than three months ago. The Labor Department initially asked the AP to pay more than $1 million for its email addresses.

This looks very bad indeed. Former EPA administrator Lisa Jackson has already lost her hob owing to her use of the pseudonym "Richard Windsor" in correspondence with both agency officials and outsiders, including environmental activists. These communications ought to be available through Freedom of Information Act requests, but the use of a covert email account circumvents FOIA search requests.

[ez]

It’s not treason, but it may be criminal. We need to read the actual law that requires the disclosure of emails to find out whether it specifies only the official account or all acounts. I suspect it justr says “emails” which includes any and all accounts, desite the weak excuses.

[ez]

You got it...the covert emails are our “Nixon tapes.”

[gura]

RICO

[ScottinVA]

Gawd, I hate those people in that poisonous regime.... every last one of them.

[ScottinVA]

That Blackberry of Obama’s (remember that?) should be confiscated and every byte of info scrutinized.

This sh*t has gone on far enough. The Obama cabal must be brought to heel.

[Truth2012]

I don’t understand why anyone is going to care about this.

[MaxMax]

I thought that if Obama turns on Holder that his peons would reconsider
because he would also throw them under the bus. This is what despots do after
they gain power, usually kill off everyone who helps them achieve that power.
And the press thinks this time will be different? Check history MSM.

[ecomcon]

“Most transparent administration ever.”

[MaxMax]

All these scandals are only being carried on Cable channels, nothing on local news Airways.
What %percentage% of Americans are being shut out by the Press? Dallas CBS hasn't mentioned a word.

[chessplayer]

This will turn out to be another big nothing, just like the other scandals.

[MaxMax]

If they come out and say "See we did it to the AP also" they'll be in a world of hurt.
Most people who watch the MSM do believe that the MSM are fair and balanced and say so.
Obama and the Dems cannot point at the AP saying they are the opposite of Conservative.
They would be admitting to much.

[goodtomato]

They should all be using “Richard Cranium”. Richard Cranium 1, Richard Cranium 2, Richard Cranium 3,...

[Typical_Whitey]

The most non-transparent administration in our History.... They all must be jamming to the Shaggy 2001 hit “Say it wasn’t you” because that is exactly how they act when they are caught red handed.

[1010RD]

“Most transparent administration ever.” BTT

I know I copied you, but it has such a nice ironic ring to it.

[ogen hal]

No...he should be waterboarded, humiliated and deported. He apparently hates Constitutional Free America.

[Nita Nupress]

There was a news story a while back about how .gov employees were using private email accounts at work and they were getting hacked by foreign hackers (eg gmail, Hotmail, etc.) . Wish i had bookmarked it now.

[Nita Nupress]

Anyone remember this?
- - - - - -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394036/China-targeted-White-House-Gmail-hacking-Hillary-Clinton-calls-threat-serious.html

China targeted White House with Gmail hacking - as Hillary Clinton calls threat ‘very serious’

By Daily Mail Reporter
3 June 2011

(SNIP)

The security breach was revealed by Google which said victims had been carefully targeted in a scam to steal passwords traced to the city of Jinan in the Communist state’s Shangdong province.

The U.S. government will not reveal who has been targeted by the ‘phishing’ attacks but admitted they included senior administration officials.

President Obama’s administration insists no official email accounts were hacked into by the Chinese but there remains the possibility that official business was being discussed on employees’ personal emails.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are now investigating with Google’s help.

Darrell Issa, Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told the Wall Street Journal ‘If all White House officials were following rules prohibiting the use of personal email for official business, there would simply be no sensitive information to find.

(SNIP...continues with details about hackers’ methodology...)

Armed with the passwords, the hackers could access the user’s real email account and spy on genuine emails being sent between government officials.

Although the scam – which went on for months before being uncovered – targeted personal email accounts, rather than government accounts, officials could have forwarded their work emails to their personal Gmail accounts. (SNIP)

[Nita Nupress]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576361863723857124.html

Gmail Hack Targeted White House
June 3, 2011

By DEVLIN BARRETT and SIOBHAN GORMAN

(SNIP)

People who work at the White House were among those targeted by the China-based hackers who broke into Google Inc.'s Gmail accounts, according to one U.S. official.

The hackers likely were hoping the officials were conducting administration business on their private emails, according to lawmakers and security experts.

(SNIP)

The Obama administration reiterated Thursday that no official messages were compromised. But lawmakers and outside computer-security experts said recent White House history suggests administration officials sometimes use personal email to talk business, despite rules against doing so.

(SNIP)

White House officials in both the current and previous administrations have been accused of using personal emails to conduct business. No matter which party is in power, critics have argued, officials use personal accounts as a way to avoid having those messages turned over to congressional investigators, released under the Freedom of Information Act or retained for historic archives.

(SNIP)

[Nita Nupress]

PAGING RICHARD WINDSOR... PAGING RICHARD WINDSOR...

- - - - - - - -

http://web.archive.org/web/20130328011032/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/technology/04hack.html

Hacking of White House E-Mail Affected Diverse Departments
By DAVID E. SANGER and VERNE G. KOPYTOFF
Published: June 3, 2011

(SNIP)

White House classified systems run on dedicated lines and information on those systems, the officials said, cannot be forwarded to Gmail accounts. But investigators were trying to determine if the attackers believed that some staff members or other officials used their personal e-mail accounts for confidential government communications.

“Right now,” said one senior official, “that’s a theory, not a fact.”

(SNIP)

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday that all White House-related electronic mail was supposed to be conducted on work e-mail accounts to comply with the Presidential Records Act, which governs how those communications are protected and archived. Mr. Carney said there was no evidence that any White House accounts were compromised.

White House employees are permitted to have private e-mail accounts, he said, but cannot use them for work purposes.

Officials at the White House and other agencies often keep two computers in their offices, one for unclassified work and another for classified. Senior officials sometimes have a “secure facility” in their homes, in which computers and telephones are on dedicated lines and communications are encrypted.

(SNIP)

[RS_Rider]

How about bin laden was dead 4 year before the imposter claimed he killed him?