Pentagon Chief Also Used His Personal Email

Ash Carter kept it up even after Clinton controversy
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 17, 2015 2:07 AM CST
Updated Dec 17, 2015 6:40 AM CST
Defense Secretary Used Personal Email Account
Ashton Carter puts on a protective helmet before watching F/A-18 Super Hornets take off from the flight deck of the USS Eisenhower earlier this month.   (Mark Wilson/Pool Photo via AP)

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used a personal email account for government business—or, as it's now known, "pulled a Hillary Clinton"—for months after taking the Pentagon's top job earlier this year, a New York Times investigation reveals. Carter, who became defense chief in February, continued using the private account to discuss matters like meetings and speeches with aides even after the controversy over Clinton's email use erupted in March, according to the Times, which used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain copies of 72 emails Carter sent to his chief of staff from the private account, using his iPhone and iPad.

Carter's press secretary confirmed the email use and said Carter now thinks it was a mistake, the AP reports. "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," the spokesman said in a statement. "As a result, he stopped such use of his personal email and further limited his use of email altogether." The spokesman stressed that Carter doesn't use his personal email account, or even his official one, to handle classified information. (More Ashton Carter stories.)

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