Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A State Department audit that found Hillary Clinton disregarded cybersecurity guidelines by using a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State renewed questions Wednesday about a controversy that has dogged her presidential campaign since it began more than a year ago.

The report from the inspector general, first obtained by the Associated Press and sent to members of Congress, found both she and previous secretaries of State poorly managed computer systems and cited “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” related to communications that preceded Clinton's time in office.

However, the audit says Clinton did not seek authorization for her email account, and by the time she took over as secretary of State in 2009, the standards for email security were "considerably more detailed and more sophisticated." The department revised guidelines through 2011, according to the report, and "Secretary Clinton's cybersecurity practices accordingly must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive directives."

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In a statement, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that Clinton's opponents "are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes."

"The report shows that problems with the State Department's electronic recordkeeping systems were longstanding and that there was no precedent of someone in her position having a State Department email account until after the arrival of her successor," Fallon said, adding that the report showed her use of a personal email account "was not unique." He said it also showed the account was known to officials within the department and that there was no evidence of a successful hack of her server.

The department's review came after revelations last year that Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is separately probing whether classified information was compromised by her email arrangement. The investigation has cast a shadow over her presidential campaign, though Clinton is expected to clinch the delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination on June 7 during the last round of state primaries, which will include the biggest delegate prize, California.

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The 78-page report says the department and its secretaries were “slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications, particularly as those risks pertain to its most senior leadership.”

The audit gave Republican critics, including presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, fresh ammunition. "Crooked Hillary," said Trump, "had a little bad news," he said, referring to the report during a rally in California Wednesday. "Not good," said Trump.

"It could be we're gonna run against crazy Bernie," he said, referring to Clinton's rival in the Democratic race, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus blasted Clinton on Twitter, saying her "bad judgment" had "endangered" national security.

Following the release of the audit, Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said the department is "“already working” to upgrade email and records systems, according to the Associated Press.

Among the violations cited was Clinton's use of mobile devices to conduct official business on her personal account and private server. She did not seek approval from senior information officers, who would have denied the request because of security risks, the audit said.

Clinton falsely believed that, the audit found, that because her emails were being sent to State Department employees, they would automatically be preserved. She should have printed and filed them, the report said. Because she did not do so and surrender them upon leaving, she did not comply with the Federal Records Act. This also led to gaps in her email archives, according to the report.

One excerpt may be a window into Clinton's reasoning for the server in the first place. An aide encouraged Clinton to get on department email so her messages wouldn't go to spam folders. In response, she wrote: "Let's get separate address or device but I don't want any risk of the personal being accessible."

Clinton has been repeatedly asked about her use of the private server, which was set up at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. She's apologized for it and said she did not send anything marked classified at the time over email.

On CNN, when asked why Clinton did not agree to take questions from the inspector general, Fallon said she’s repeatedly offered to speak with the Justice Department and that there were “hints of an anti-Clinton bias in that office," referring to the State Department's chief investigator.

The report also detailed email practices of other secretaries of State, including the staffs of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, from 2001 to 2008. The audit identified more than 90 employees who periodically used personal accounts to conduct official business.

The report also highlights one June 3, 2011, email to Clinton with the subject line "Google email hacking and woeful state of civilian technology." The email, from a former director of policy planning read: "State's technology is so antiquated that NO ONE uses a State-issued laptop and even high officials routinely end up using their home email accounts to be able to get their work done quickly and effectively."