GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley is not about to let go of the fact that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter used his personal email account to conduct official government business, as he is convinced a review of the email trove reveals sensitive information.
Grassley believes Carter’s 1,336-page email archive, which the Pentagon released in March, contains more than just routine calendar scheduling and in fact includes “at least some sensitive information on his email,” the Hill reports.
“The Defense Department is downplaying Secretary Carter’s use of personal devices for official business, but I have concerns,” Grassley said in a statement. “Many emails appear to contain subject matter that extends beyond mere routine administrative work.”
It is unclear exactly what Grassley considers to be sensitive information, but in a response to Grassley, Stephen Hedger, assistant secretary of Defense for legislative affairs, wrote that “no classified information was identified in this review,” according to The Hill.
The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported on two exchanges in the Carter emails, the first of which was between Carter and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg about extending women extra advantages in the military. The second notable exchange covered was a veterans’ organization complaining that care at the Department of Veterans Affairs is a disaster and disgrace.
While Hedger did not identify Carter’s personal email address, he stated it was “hosted by a large commercial service provider, typical of how many Americans acquire free personal email addresses.”
Although the Pentagon surgically redacted personal information in the 1,336-page email archive, it appears reviewers may have slipped up and left Carter’s personal email address right in the open on page 1,213: ashcarter@msn.com. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation on whether his personal email account was listed intentionally or accidentally.
Carter’s biography, hosted online by the Belfer Center at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, shows that this address seems genuine.
The response to Carter’s use of personal email has been nowhere near to the response received former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use, mostly because the latter case seems orders of magnitude worse than Carter’s.
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