|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:38:57 GMT
The report mentioned several items of concern regarding Gration, including his management skills and reluctance to read relevant classified messages, but also highlighted how shortly after arriving to the Nairobi embassy in May 2011, Gration had a commercial Internet connection installed so he could send private emails.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:39:11 GMT
He also distributed a self-written policy allowing himself and others to use private email for official business, according to the inspector general report. Gration preferred using Gmail, according to The New Republic, and worked from a bathroom, which allowed for an unsecured network. Staffers sat on the toilet for meetings.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:39:24 GMT
The inspector general report noted that the government's email system provides automatic security updates and maintains public records, while the ambassador's use of private email in the office and "his flouting of direct instructions" put his staff in a position of listening to their boss versus obeying agency policy.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:39:37 GMT
"I did all my official business on the State Department communications system. I supplemented it with my personal e-mail, but it was never a security issue," Gration told Foreign Policy following the report's release in 2012.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:40:00 GMT
"I have a background in secure communications. I know what is right and what is wrong. I did everything correctly, and I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide," he added.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:40:20 GMT
The report gains renewed attention this week after news emerged that Clinton exclusively operated on private email accounts during her four years as secretary of State, from 2009 to 2013.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:40:51 GMT
Clinton has so far not directly addressed a growing number of questions regarding her email use, first reported by The New York Times, including concerns over the security of her private email system and maintenance of all public records.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:41:09 GMT
President Obama appointed Gration as the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, where he served before working in Kenya.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:41:25 GMT
Gration did not immediately return a request for comment, while a spokesman for the Inspector General said "the report speaks for itself" and offered no additional comment.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:41:41 GMT
Asked about the report in light of news Clinton similarly used private email, a State Department official told The Hill that Gration offered his resignation shortly before the release of the report, which cited "several concerns with management and leadership at our embassy in Nairobi.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:41:54 GMT
This story was last updated at 5:46 p.m.
|
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:43:24 GMT
With the stunning news Thursday afternoon that House Administration Committee Chairman Candice Miller (R.-Mich) had decided not to seek re-election in 2016, most speculation among Republicans in and out of Michigan’s 10th District (Macomb County) focused immediately on Republican State Rep. Andrea LaFontaine, 28, as the veteran congresswoman’s heiress apparent. Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com www.newsmax.com/Politics/michigan-candice-miller-not-running/2015/03/05/id/628583/#ixzz3TZ8fc2Tz Urgent: Rate Obama on His Job Performance. Vote Here Now! |
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:43:38 GMT
National GOP interest in three-term legislator LaFontaine is based on the historic nature of her possible election: if elected, the self-styled "moderate-to-conservative" would become, at age 29, the youngest woman of either party ever elected to Congress. That "title" current belongs to Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, elected to her upstate New York seat last fall at age 30. Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com www.newsmax.com/Politics/michigan-candice-miller-not-running/2015/03/05/id/628583/#ixzz3TZ8jCN64 Urgent: Rate Obama on His Job Performance. Vote Here Now! |
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:43:59 GMT
I’m not ruling [running for Congress] in or out right now — I haven’t even talked to my family yet," LaFontaine told Newsmax less than an hour after Miller’s surprise announcement, "I just heard the news myself. Anyone who runs will have some giant shoes to fill by succeeding Candice Miller, someone for whom I have the most respect." Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com www.newsmax.com/Politics/michigan-candice-miller-not-running/2015/03/05/id/628583/#ixzz3TZ8nNzKG Urgent: Rate Obama on His Job Performance. Vote Here Now! |
|
|
|
Post by Josh Canfield on Mar 6, 2015 1:44:19 GMT
A one-time Harrison Township supervisor, Miller — who bears a resemblance to German Chancellor Angela Merkel — made a valiant-but-losing bid for Congress in 1986 against then-Democratic Rep. David Bonior. She later won two terms as Michigan’s secretary of State and, when Bonior retired in 2002, Miller captured the 10th District.
|
|
