Senator Carper Statement on State Department IG Report

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement on the State Department Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report released today evaluating the agency’s policies, specifically in the Office of the Secretary, regarding email records and cybersecurity requirements.

“Today’s report shows that poor record keeping practices have long plagued government agencies and that better laws have been needed in order to keep pace with changing technologies. In 2014, Congress took important and long overdue steps to modernize the laws that govern federal record keeping requirements and procedures and improve our ability to capture and archive electronic records. Had these common-sense measures been in place earlier, the practices identified in the OIG report would not have persisted over many years and multiple administrations. As the report shows, Secretary Clinton was just one of many former secretaries and other State Department employees who used a personal email account, and partisan attempts to single her or her practices out now that she is running for president are unfair and not productive. Moving forward, it is critical that we continue to implement the 2014 reforms to the Federal Records Act and improve record keeping practices throughout the federal government in order to tackle these longstanding weaknesses.”