In at least one press briefing during Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, a spokesman made clear that at annual trainings it's stressed there's no assumption of privacy in personal email accounts.
"I think the general rule – first of all, you're right; on the first account that State Department employees are not prohibited from having private email accounts," State spokesman Mark Toner said at a June 2011 press briefing during a discussion related to the hacking of Gmail accounts by Chinese hackers .
"We all do it. That said – or many of us do it. That said, we all undergo, I think, annual cyber awareness security reviews, programs. And in fact, that even extends into when we log on, in fact, we get constantly quizzed on our cyber security awareness. And I think it's important to say that in that training, it's stressed that there's no assumption of confidentiality in any kind of personal email account and that you should obviously act accordingly."
When asked if then-Secretary Clinton had a gmail account, Toner said he did not know.
Clinton has come under fire in recent days for her exclusive use of a personal email account to conduct official business while serving as the nation's top diplomat.
The revelation has had open government advocates, Republicans, editorial boards, and some Democrats questioning the security and legality of her personal account, which was registered to a "clintonemail.com" domain for her government work.
The video and full transcript is below:
QUESTION: Just to put some stuff sort of on the record in black and white --
MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure.
QUESTION: -- is there any prohibition against U.S. Government officials using private email services such as Gmail for their personal, non-classified, non-official --
MR. TONER: No.
QUESTION: Okay. Is there any – there are certain agencies – the SEC, to cite an independent agency in the U.S. Government – which bars its employees from accessing private accounts like Gmail while they’re at work. Is there anything that bars U.S. Government – State Department officials from accessing Gmail at work?
MR. TONER: There is not. I think the general rule – first of all, you’re right; on the first account that State Department employees are not prohibited from having private email accounts. We all do it. That said – or many of us do it. That said, we all undergo, I think, annual cyber awareness security reviews, programs. And in fact, that even extends into when we log on, in fact, we get constantly quizzed on our cyber security awareness. And I think it’s important to say that in that training, it’s stressed that there’s no assumption of confidentiality in any kind of personal email account and that you should obviously act accordingly.
I’m sorry, your last – what was your – oh, are we prohibited during the workday? As far as I’m aware, we are not. Obviously, though, that use should be limited. But I’m not aware that we’re prohibited from using it in the workplace.
QUESTION: Does Secretary Clinton have a Gmail account?
MR. TONER: I do not know.