Defense Secretary Ash Carter reportedly used a personal email account for some government work during the first months of his career at the Pentagon.
The New York Times reported:
Mr. Carter continued the practice, which violated Defense Department rules, for at least two months after it was publicly revealed in March that Hillary Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account as secretary of state, the officials said. It is not clear when Mr. Carter stopped using the account. But an administration official said that when the White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, learned about Mr. Carter’s email practices in May, Mr. McDonough directed the White House Counsel’s Office to contact the Defense Department to ask why Mr. Carter was relying on the personal account. Mr. McDonough wanted to ensure that Mr. Carter was following all federal laws and regulations governing email use, the official said.
Carter’s spokesman said Wednesday that his boss had determined that his use of a personal email account for official business was a "mistake."
"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," spokesman Peter Cook stated. "As a result, he stopped such use of his personal email and further limited his use of email altogether."
However, Cook downplayed Carter’s use of private email, claiming that he "rarely uses email for official government business." A former aide disputed the claim, saying that Carter used personal email frequently which led staffers to worry that the account would be hacked.
It is unclear how many work-related emails were sent and received from Carter’s personal email.
Carter was nominated to the post by President Obama at the end of last year following former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s departure. Hagel had reportedly clashed with Obama and resigned under pressure.
Concern about Obama administration officials using personal email for government business has risen since revelations that former secretary of State Hillary Clinton exclusively used a private system during her four years leading the agency.
The FBI has been investigating Clinton’s email set up since the intelligence community inspector general determined that two emails held on her server contained top secret information at the time they were sent. A intelligence community review affirmed those findings, according to reports this week.