Senate panel wants Defense chief's email

Show Caption Hide Caption Reports: Ashton Carter used personal email as Defense secretary Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used a personal email account to conduct official business during his first few months as Pentagon chief, his press secretary confirmed in a statement Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has asked for copies of Defense Secretary Ash Carter's personal emails after Carter acknowledged he had used a personal email account earlier this year.

“With all the public attention surrounding the improper use of personal email by other Administration officials, it is hard to believe that Secretary Carter would exercise the same error in judgment," Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and committee chairman, said in a statement.. "The Senate Armed Services Committee has requested copies of the emails and will be conducting a review to ensure that sensitive information was not compromised.”

In a briefing in Irbil, Iraq, Carter said using the personal email was a mistake.

"This is a — a mistake I made with respect to email; entirely my mistake; entirely on me," Carter said. "First of all, let me begin by saying, in fact as secretary of Defense, I don't use email very much. I certainly don't use it for classified information, and any work-related email is preserved, as is required.

"Someone in my position and the sensitivities about the position should have known better," he said. "And there were plenty of people during the time that you're taking office and so forth who explain to you what the rules are about email. So this is — it's not like I didn't have the opportunity to understand what the right thing to do is. I didn't do the right thing. This is entirely on me."

Carter acknowledged using the account to conduct official business during his first few months as Pentagon chief, the Defense Department said in a statement released Wednesday.

The statement followed a New York Times article saying it had obtained 72 of Carter's work-related emails that he sent or received from a personal email account. The Times said it was given the emails in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

"After reviewing his email practices earlier this year, the secretary believes that his previous, occasional use of personal email for work-related business, even for routine administrative issues and backed up to his official account, was a mistake," the statement from spokesman Peter Cook said. "As a result, he stopped such use of his personal email and further limited his use of email altogether."

Cook did not say whether Carter's use of personal emails violated Defense Department policy, but he said Carter did not use the account for classified material.

"The Secretary has a secure communications team that handles his classified information and provides it to him as necessary," Cook said. "Memoranda are provided to him in hard copy. He takes his responsibilities with regard to classified material very seriously.



Carter continued the practice of using his personal email for at least two months after news broke that Hillary Clinton had used a private email server for official purposes during her tenure as secretary of State, The Times reported.

The Times says Carter, "emailed with his closest aides about a variety of work-related matters, including speeches, meetings and news media appearances."

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