OIG - Hillary's Emails -- Non-Scandal

Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of State
Broadcasting Board of Governors
UNCLASSIFIED

March 2, 2016

MEMORANDUM FOR UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY FROM : OIG - Steve A Linick £ SUBJECT: FINAL : CLASSIFIED MATERIAL DISCOVERED IN UNCLASSIFIED ARCHIVAL MATERIAL (ESP-16-02)

The Office of Inspector General 's (OIG) Office of Evaluation and Special Projects is currently examining issues associated with records preservation and the use of personal hardware and software by five Secretaries of State (Albright, Powell, Rice, Clinton, and Kerry) and their immediate staff. This memorandum updates the memorandum OIG sent on February 3, 2016, to include the Department 's response to OIG's recommendations and our reply. Attachment A contains the Department 's official response, dated February 18 ,2016 .

During the course of this evaluation, OIG searched unclassified archives and discovered records suggesting instances in which potentially sensitive material may have been transmitted via personal email accounts or other unclassified means to Secretary Powell or to Secretary Rice's immediate staff . None of the material was marked as classified, but the substance of the material and "NODIS" (No Distribution) references in the body or subject lines of so me of the documents suggested that the documents could be potentially sensitive. On October 19 , 2015 , OIG transmitted to the Department and separately to the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community (ICIG) for classification review 19 separate Office of the Secretary archival documents. The date range of the documents is from February 2003 through June 2008.

On December 15, 2015, the ICIG advised OIG that, according to information management officials in the Intelligence Community (IC), none of the documents contain or contained IC information.

On December 29, 2015, the Department advised OIG that 12 of the 19 documents contain national security information classified at the Secret or Confidential levels based on a re view by 9 Department bureaus and offices. Two of these documents were emails sent to Secretary Powell's personal email account; the remaining were documents transmitted to personal or unclassified accounts belonging to a member of Secretary Rice's immediate staff a nd another senior Department official.


U.S. Department of State, Office of Inspector General, Washing t on, D.C. 20522 - 0308 I UNCLASSIFIED I On January 15, 2016, the Department provided Ia second response that discusses OIG's query whether the material contained in each classifi~d document was or should have been regarded as classified at the time of transmission or receipt. Based on the Department's responses and findings to date, additional potential classified material and/or highly sensitive information not intended for distribution may reside in the Department's unclassified paper and electronic archives associated with Secretaries Powell and Rice and their respective staff. Recommendation OIG recommends that the Department remove classified material from all unclassified paper and electronic archives associated with Secretaries owell and Rice and their staff. Management Response Office of the Executive Secretariat (S/ES) staff h ve removed from the Department's unclassified network all of the email material identified as cl~ssified and placed it in secure storage. Additionally, retired electronic records provided to the Bureau of Administration that were initially stored in an unclassified system have b~en moved to the appropriate classified system. With regard to paper records relating to forme{ Secretaries Powell and Rice, the Department does not believe any action is warranted because these materials are currently stored in a facility certified to house classified Department record~ up to the SECRET level. According to OIG's follow-up conversations with S/ES staff, additioral electronic archival material associated with Secretaries Powell and Rice is being stored in a jsecure manner. OIG Reply OIG considers this recommendation to be resolved. This recommendation will be closed when OIG receives and accepts documentation detailing the secure methods that S/ES is using to store the additional electronic archival material I associated with Secretaries Powell and Rice. In addition, OIG strongly encourages the Depart"lent to consider conducting a review of all paper and electronic archives for the Office of the Seoretary to determine (1) the extent to which classified material may have been inappropriatJiy transmitted through unclassified email accounts and (2) whether additional action is nkeded to safeguard this material. cc : D(MR)- Heather A. Higginbottom DS - Gregory B. Starr A- Joyce A. Barr I. Charles McCullough, ill, Inspector General, Intelligence Community UNCLASSIFIED 12 United States Department of State Under Secretary of Stale for Ma11agemefll Washington, D . C. 20 5 20 UNCLASSIFIED TO: Steve Linick, In spector General FROM : M - Patr ick F. Ke nn edy ~~ February 1 8, 2016 SUBJECT : R es ponse to OIG Memorandum dated 2 -3- 2016, Classified Material Di scovered in Unclassified Archival Material (ESP-16 - 02) We t hank the OIG for the opponunity to respond to its recent memorandum and va lu e the OIG's care ful review of the records prese r vat i on i ssues . The Department has th e f ollo wing response t o th e recommendation co nta i n e d in the memorandum . Recommendation : OIG recommends that the Department remove classified material from all un classified paper a n d electronic archives associated wit h Secretaries Powell and Rice a nd their staff. Response: The Departm ent accepts th e principle that a ll classified material must be safeguarde d pursu ant to national security stan d ards. The Dep anment follows c u rrent securit y guide lin es relating to the storage of classified nation a l security information , and we bel i eve th at those guidelines protect the info r mation that yo u reviewed. Regarding e l ectro nic r eco rds of fo rm e r Secretaries, it is the current pr act ic e of th e Exec u t ive Se cretariat staff (S / ES- IRM) to s to re unclassified e-mail files (pst fil es) on t h e unclassified ve rsion of POEMS. Since the receipt o f yo u r memorandum, the S / ES staff has moved quickly to remove a ll e -mail material you identified as classified from the unclassified network and place them in secure sto r age. Addit i onally retired elect r onic records provided to the Bur eau of Adminis tr ation that were stored in an unclassified sys t em have been moved to th e appropr i ate c l ass ifi ed system. For the paper reco r d s re l at in g to former Secretaries Powell and Rice, we do not believe any removal of classified materials is wa rr anted. Retired papers records from former Secretaries Powell a nd Rice are currently stored in the Depa1tmem's UNCLASS IFIED II UNCLASSIFIED R.ecolds Center (SA-13). '{his tacility certified to house Department records up to the SECRET level. I ~,~ If you have any further questions about this response, feel free to reach out to John Hackett, Director, A/GIS/IPS. II il Attachment : Classified Material Discovered in ~nclassified 1 Archival Material (ESP-16-02) Memorandum I II !1 I lj II i II i I I I i I i I I I I I I I I I I I UNcJskiFIED I I