The report, first obtained by the Associated Press and sent to members of Congress,\u00a0cites “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” related to communications that\u00a0started before Clinton’s appointment as secretary of State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the report says that\u00a0by the time Clinton took office in 2009, the standards for email security were “considerably more detailed and more sophisticated.” The department revised guidelines\u00a0through 2011, according to the report,\u00a0and\u00a0“Secretary Clinton’s cybersecurity practices accordingly must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive directives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said that Clinton’s opponents “are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
“The report shows that problems with the State Department’s electronic recordkeeping systems were longstanding and that there was no precedent of someone in her position having a State Department email account until\u00a0after the arrival of her successor,” Fallon said, adding that the report showed her use of a personal email account “was not unique.” It also shows her use of a personal email was known to officials within the Department and that there is no evidence of a successful hack of her server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The review came after revelations last year that Clinton exclusively used a private email account and server while in office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is separately\u00a0probing whether any classified information crossed her server. The investigation\u00a0has cast a shadow over her presidential campaign, though Clinton is close to clinching the delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 78-page report says the department and its secretaries were “slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks associated with electronic data communications, particularly as those risks pertain to its most senior leadership.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n