A prominent Washington watchdog is asking just how many Obama administration officials hid behind fake names while they worked for the U.S. government, after discovering that Loretta Lynch sometimes wasn't Loretta Lynch – for email purposes – while she was attorney general.

She was Elizabeth Carlisle.

Judicial Watch said Lynch's actions illustrate "how government hides information from the American public."

The group was pursuing information about the United Nations' questionable Strong Cities Network when senior counsel Vanessa Brinkman of the Department of Justice responded with some information and an explanation.

TRENDING: Undercover journalist turns the tables, sues Planned Parenthood for defamation

"For your information, emails in the enclosed documents which use the account name 'Elizabeth Carlisle' denote emails to or from former Attorney General Loretta Lynch's official Department of Justice email account. Mrs. Lynch's official email account did not use her name, in order to protect her security and privacy and enable her to conduct department business efficiently via email," the letter said.

Judicial Watch said that as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, Lynch, Barack Obama's second attorney general, "skirted public-records laws by using the alias Elizabeth Carlisle in emails she sent from her official DOJ account."

Judicial Watch said that in the records it received, the Justice Department explained it as necessary to "protect her security and privacy and enable her to conduct department business efficiently via email."

The watchdog said it raises the question of "how many other government officials use fake names and whether those aliases are searched when agencies process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests."

"Besides Lynch, we have only discovered the use of such aliases among government operatives to conduct official business at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Obama's EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, famously used the alias Richard Windsor in a government email account to conduct official business and communicate with staff. Jackson even took required EPA computer training under the fake identity with the handle Windsor.Richard[email protected] She eventually resigned over the scandal, which brought to light the agency’s violations of federal open-records laws," Judicial Watch said.

"In Lynch's case, Judicial Watch requested the records as part of an investigation into the Obama administration's involvement in a United Nations' international law enforcement coalition called Strong Cities Network. The purported mission of the global coalition was to build social cohesion and community resilience to counter violent extremism," the organization said.

"The DOJ masterminded the agreement and Americans found out about the U.S.'s participation when Lynch announced it during a U.N. speech on September 29, 2015. Lynch referred to SCN as a 'truly groundbreaking endeavor' and assured the notoriously corrupt world body that the Obama administration was deeply committed to the new initiative."

The records indicate that using an alias was common in the Obama camp. WND reported in 2017 that Obama, according to former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy, knew that he had communicated with Hillary Clinton over her non-secure, private communication system "using an alias."

FBI Director James Comey concluded Clinton was "extremely careless" but said there would be no charges for her mishandling of classified information.

WND columnist Ellen Ratner asked whether or not Obama and Lynch were using aliases "to throw off FOIA requests?"

"Did Obama and Lynch share their alias emails with FOIA officers? If they didn't, how would those who are handling these FOIA requests know what to look for?" she wrote.

"Laws exist for a reason, and using an alias is a clear attempt to thwart people looking for your records. How many times have you heard people say, 'Send the information to my private email account and not my work email account'? There's a reason for that."

She noted, "I may be a liberal, but I believe justice is for all, and that includes President Trump, President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton."

In March 2015, the London Daily Mail reported Chelsea Clinton was known as Diane Reynolds when Hillary Clinton used the same email account that she used for her State Department work to plan her daughter's wedding.

Hillary Clinton's alias at that point was [email protected]

Judicial Watch said it's latest confirmation of Lynch's decision to hide her identity came while it was trying to get information about the Strong Cities Network.

"Specifically, Judicial Watch asked for legal opinions and analysis prepared by the DOJ relating to the U.S. involvement in the program, documents that form the foundation for the decision for the country to participate in SCN, all international agreements and related records involving the commitment of U.S. resources or personnel to SCN and records of communication between officials in the office of the attorney general relating to the initiative. The DOJ claimed to have no records related to the SCN and billed Judicial Watch a startling $50,000 to conduct the search that didn’t produce a single file," the watchdog reported.