Kerry Picket:
The private email used in work instances by former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was not only unsecure, it was used to exchange sensitive information with foreign officials.
As a result of obtaining 216 pages of documents filed by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request, it can be seen that Johnson used his private email to conduct sensitive discussions with high level foreign officials, including conversations he had with a Kuwaiti ambassador and Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry officials.
A federal judge had ordered former top officials at DHS last month, including Johnson, to preserve emails in their private accounts that may be included in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The trove of documents included an email sent from the Kuwaiti ambassador to Johnson’s unsecure email account asking the secretary to set up a meeting for him with Kuwait’s Interior Ministry. Additionally, the email talks about Kuwait’s Interior Minister’s having talks with the chiefs of CIA, FBI and DNI.
The U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia also sent an email to Johnson’s unsecure email account, inquiring about Johnson’s future meetings at the Saudi Interior Ministry in Jeddah.
An unknown individual spoofed Johnson’s name and unsecure email account as well in a phishing scam. The email told recipients they could get money from “an abandoned fund worth U.S.D. 4.5 million in West Africa” if they would send their personal details back.
Despite his use of his private email when having high level discussions, Johnson gave a January 29, 2015 “Progress Report” speech where he boasted about the Homeland Security’s “strides in cybersecurity.”
Business as usual for the Obama administration. Unless it was their own political chicanery, secrecy and security was an afterthought.
But, hey, let’s obsess about Trump’s tweets.
The practice will continue unless Trump cleans house! The State Department is full of liberals who will subtly sabotage the SEC of State and the US to achieve their ends. I saw this happen in Iraq with both Bush SoS.