Have you ever been extremely careless in your emails?
Hillary Clinton was hammered last week by FBI Director James Comey for using a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. But despite numerous attempts by congressional Republicans to trip Comey into saying the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was criminally negligent, he maintained that there was no evidence Clinton broke the law — only that she was incredibly reckless.
It was a statement that should have elicited more sympathy than it did.
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Like anyone who doesn't use encrypted email or messaging systems, Clinton has defended her decision to use the account as one of "convenience."
"I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two," she said in a 2015 press conference. "Looking back, it would have been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn't seem like an issue."
It's a stance that's been mocked as haughty, where only those with privilege haven't time to waste. But it's actually very common; it's a tradeoff we make every day in our personal lives.
Think about it. Have you ever sent your address over email or in a text? What about your birthday or bank account number? Have you ever used public Wi-Fi or the same password for multiple online accounts?
It only takes a name and address — sometimes less — for a hacker to steal your identity. But even though we know that every transaction we make on the internet imperils our security — that every corporate, health insurance, or government agency breach stockpiles digital breadcrumbs that can be used to hack our accounts — most of us have poor digital habits.
For Clinton, the issue isn't whether she knew better — she almost certainly did. But being secretary of state required constant communication which, even in knowing the risks and protocol, put her at odds with the basic tenets of national and cybersecurity. It's a point a senior State Department diplomat made in 2013. "Things appear on your Blackberries that would never be on an unclassified system, but you're out traveling, you're trying to negotiate something, you want to communicate with people — it's the fastest way to do it," former under secretary for political affairs Wendy Sherman said in a speech.
That points to a problem larger than one woman. It's true that Hillary Clinton was extremely reckless, as Comey said when debunking all of her excuses for setting up her private email server. But the bigger issue, as he put it, is that she wasn't alone.
According to the State Department's OIG report released in May, former Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted to using a personal email account to conduct official business under the Bush administration. And similar to Clinton, Powell deleted most of those emails. Following Powell's tenure, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also received some classified material on personal email.
Even Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who was particularly acerbic in his questions to Comey during last week's hearing, prefers to use his gmail over his house.gov email address. And while Congress isn't held to the same digital security measures as other branches of government, members are often privy to classified materials.
Comey's solution is to train government workers better and make sure that they only use designated classified and encrypted systems to email sensitive information. But again, the problem isn't a lack of training — it's that in 2016, the fastest and most efficient way to communicate is often the least secure.
While we should always hold government officials to a higher standard, technology can make that difficult. Government agencies tend to run on antiquated computer systems that are full of security vulnerabilities. And as phones become more powerful, elected and appointed officials are tempted to bring the latest technology — and its conveniences — on the job. Removing that temptation will require overhauling government infrastructure and bringing it up to speed with modern technology.
Most of us can access all of our emails on one phone. Why would we expect the secretary of state to behave any differently?
