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SCOOP: Hillary’s State Dept. Forced The Resignation Of An Ambassador For Using Private E-Mail
TheFederalist.com ^ | 03/05/2015 | Sean Davis

Posted on 03/05/2015 8:34:27 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Although Hillary Clinton and her allies may be claiming that her private e-mail system is no big deal, Hillary’s State Department actually forced the 2012 resignation of the U.S. ambassador to Kenya in part for setting up an unsanctioned private e-mail system. According to a 2012 report from the State Department’s inspector general, former U.S. ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration set up a private e-mail system for his office in 2011.

The inspector general’s report offered a scathing assessment of Gration’s information security practices — practices that are eerily similar to those undertaken by Clinton while she served as Secretary of State:

Very soon after the Ambassador’s arrival in May 2011, he broadcast his lack of confidence in the information management staff. Because the information management office could not change the Department’s policy for handling Sensitive But Unclassified material, he assumed charge of the mission’s information management operations. He ordered a commercial Internet connection installed in his embassy office bathroom so he could work there on a laptop not connected to the Department email system. He drafted and distributed a mission policy authorizing himself and other mission personnel to use commercial email for daily communication of official government business. During the inspection, the Ambassador continued to use commercial email for official government business. The Department email system provides automatic security, record-keeping, and backup functions as required. The Ambassador’s requirements for use of commercial email in the office and his flouting of direct instructions to adhere to Department policy have placed the information management staff in a conundrum: balancing the desire to be responsive to their mission leader and the need to adhere to Department regulations and government information security standards. The Ambassador compounded the problem on several occasions by publicly berating members of the staff, attacking them personally, loudly questioning their competence, and threatening career-ending disciplinary actions. These actions have sapped the resources and morale of a busy and understaffed information management staff as it supports the largest embassy in sub-Saharan Africa.

The inspector general’s report specifically noted that Gration violated State Department policy by using a private, unsanctioned e-mail service for official business. In its executive summary listing its key judgments against the U.S. ambassador to Kenya who served under Hillary Clinton, the inspector general stated that Gration’s decision to willfully violate departmental information security policies highlighted Gration’s “reluctance to accept clear-cut U.S. Government decisions.” The report claimed that this reluctance to obey governmental security policies was the former ambassador’s “greatest weakness.”

Criticisms of Gration came from both sides of the political aisle. Liberal commentators took him to task for jeopardizing American security by insisting on the use of a private e-mail system. A 2012 dispatch from The New Republic about Gration’s resignation specifically noted that Gration’s e-mail gambit “put classified information about the U.S.’s operations in East Africa at a higher risk for exposure”:

Over the objections of State Department officials, Gration insisted on doing business on his personal laptop and through his Gmail account, according to the former officer. This put classified information about the U.S.’s operations in East Africa at a higher risk for exposure—consider an incident in June 2011, when hackers in China broke into numerous Gmail accounts belonging to senior U.S. officials. (China, for what it’s worth, has an enormous presence in East Africa.)

In a report filed shortly after his resignation, the Washington Post also recounted Gration’s myriad security violations as U.S. ambassador, noting that Gration had “repeatedly violated diplomatic security protocols at the embassy by using unsecured Internet connections.”

The New York Times wrote that Gration “preferred to use Gmail for official business and set up private offices in his residence — and an embassy bathroom — to work outside the purview of the embassy staff.”

Hillary Clinton and her team have thus far remained quiet about the security and encryption standards employed on her private e-mail server. However, at least one person who e-mailed Clinton using her private address was hacked in 2012 by a pseudonymous hacker known only as Guccifer. That hack was the first time Hillary’s secret private e-mail address was revealed to the public.

Although Clinton claimed on Twitter last evening that she “want[s] the public to see my e-mail,” she is yet to explain why to deliberately took steps for years to hide her e-mail from the public for years.

To date, neither she nor her team have released any e-mails that she sent or received while serving as U.S. Secretary of State.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: clinton; hillary; soshillary
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To: central_va

“Her ISP that allowed SMTP traffic thru their firewall is complicit.” - CV

Please explain


21 posted on 03/05/2015 9:02:54 AM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery ea)
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To: central_va
Her ISP that allowed SMTP traffic thru their firewall is complicit

We'll know who they are when they get their Net Neutrality waiver.


22 posted on 03/05/2015 9:03:50 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Triple

All ISP’s have a firewall. By default you get to go thru their firewall out bound pretty unlimited. But inbound your traffic is highly regulated. The protocol is TCP/IP. Email uses port 25 and has been that way for ever. Your ISP isn’t going to let you set up an email server behind their firewall. Most ISP’s will give you an account on one of their email servers for free. But to have your own email server will cost extra. At minimum the ISP HAS to know you are getting traffic on port 25.


23 posted on 03/05/2015 9:08:05 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker; immadashell

We can only hope that the Cruz administration assigns Hillary her very own special prosecutor.


24 posted on 03/05/2015 9:08:46 AM PST by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation Continues)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If I recall, correct me if I am wrong. There was a line of questioning without resolve, regarding how correspondence was sent and handled
in which Ambassador Chris Stevens, was requesting additional security through Clinton. It was left unclear if the requests were through wire or email or the mans of contact. I also think someone, maybe Hillary denied receiving any such requests, at least it was left unanswered.


25 posted on 03/05/2015 9:09:44 AM PST by Toespi
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To: central_va

“At minimum the ISP HAS to know you are getting traffic on port 25.” - CV

Ok - but the ISP does not have to know that her email is subject to federal government security and preservation, right?

Does this have to do with back-up provided by the ISP (on port 25 traffic), and if it was turned off, then they would know that was suspicious activity - no matter who was doing it?


26 posted on 03/05/2015 9:21:06 AM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery ea)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

Napolitano just said that it is likely Hillary committed a felony.


27 posted on 03/05/2015 9:23:07 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Just starting from when Hillary and Bill occupied the White House, Hillary has committed more felonies than Carter has little farter starters. Check with Web Hubbel.


28 posted on 03/05/2015 9:29:28 AM PST by sport
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To: Triple

If port 25 was blocked then she wouldn’t get SMTP(Simple Mail Transport Protocol ) her email. Somebody technical on her staff set this up. They contacted the ISP and informed them that they wanted to get SMTP traffic on their domain name. The ISP knew this was Hillary Clinton and she was the SOS. This is a big deal.


29 posted on 03/05/2015 9:29:51 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Why not question all of her staff instead of Mrs Clinton?


30 posted on 03/05/2015 9:30:07 AM PST by topspinr
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To: central_va

ok - Thank you! (I’m tech challenged.)


31 posted on 03/05/2015 9:31:32 AM PST by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery ea)
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To: sport

Murder, plus maybe 400 felonies. I think Obama’s bosses had him tell the MSM to take her out. Too much baggage. We shall be watching : )


32 posted on 03/05/2015 9:36:03 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Could be. even though it has only slightly, the media has turned on her. Perhaps a message is being sent. As you said, we shall see.


33 posted on 03/05/2015 9:38:49 AM PST by sport
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To: Twotone

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Leona Helmsley were separated at birth.


34 posted on 03/05/2015 9:58:15 AM PST by monocle
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Looks like it is still in operation:

Ping Results:

Pinging clintonemail.com [208.91.197.27] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 208.91.197.27: bytes=32 time=107ms TTL=239
Reply from 208.91.197.27: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=239
Reply from 208.91.197.27: bytes=32 time=131ms TTL=239
Reply from 208.91.197.27: bytes=32 time=103ms TTL=239

Whois Results:

Domain Name: CLINTONEMAIL.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1537310173_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com
Updated Date: 2015-01-29T00:44:01Z
Creation Date: 2009-01-13T20:37:32Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-01-13T05:00:00Z
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8003337680
Reseller:
Domain Status:
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West
Registrant City: Jacksonville
Registrant State/Province: FL
Registrant Postal Code: 32258
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.5707088780
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: kr5a95v468n@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com


35 posted on 03/05/2015 4:14:10 PM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I just love the FR shills outing themselves over this. Every new damning piece of evidence is accompanied by six top posts of shills screaming “so what” and “give up” and “nothing will change” and “it doesn’t matter.”

LOL, scream louder, bugs. I love the sound.


36 posted on 03/05/2015 7:00:10 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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