They were generally made available to the public in 1993. That would be during the Clinton Administration.
I doubt government at any level jumped in with two feet to begin to use the internet and emails in a large number of communications. At the time wired messages were widely considered the best and most expedient method of communication in the State Department. Wiring communications are still used today and are probably still the most secure.
The law regarding federal government emails which is different than commercial emails is found under 44 US Code Chapter 31 - Records Management of Federal Agencies (click here).
The head of each Federal agency shall make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency’s activities.
The law states each Federal agency shall make...That means no different the rules the Senate and House make for themselves to be governed each federal agency will do the same thing. So, while Congress manages their emails according to their rules, the State Department does the same thing. That is why they have legal advisers.
When the former Secretary states she didn't know A from B about certain issues that might be accurate. The rules governing the departments activities are written by legal advisers and not the former Secretary. She might sign off on the rules governing the agency, but she didn't write the regulations.
And if she signed off on the regulations there is a good chance she was given a verbal description by the legal advisers that wrote the regulations. So, to say she had first hand knowledge of the email regulation is false.
These regulations are also a reason why an email was sent to all the agencies employees regarding the handling of their communications. Let's be clear. There is not precluding emails have to be through a government server, just that the emails will be forwarded to the government server and/or submitted to the State Department. The reason the former Secretary would require her staff to conduct their communications through one particular server is because it was easier for her to access one server while she was in route or half way around the world. The fact she traveled and may have used personal emails as a convenience to her location was a point also made by Mr. Davis.
The rules were published in the Federal Register on October 2, 2009. The Federal Register appears here (click here). It is 57 pages long and I guarantee you the former Secretary did not read the entire law or even bothered to read it at all because that is not her job. The legal adviser to the State Department would receive this rule and then write State Departments rules in compliance with the new regulations. This regulation is general and applies to all federal agencies, so each agency may interpret it differently depending on the departments use and generation of records.
The former Secretary did not plan to deceive the American people up on entering office. This was nearly a year after the Secretary assumed office. Then add to this the actual start up time of the State Department to comply with the regulations and that is at least a month. So, it is safe to assume the new regulations were completely in use from the 2009 regulation by January 1, 2010.
The former Secretary carried out the requirement of preserving the emails from her position within the federal government and provided them to the State Department by December 2014.
The change in regulations to the agencies came in 2014 and it specified all communication has to go through the government server. Personally, I think that is going to be very difficult to follow. One assumes the government server is reachable regardless where in the world the Secretary of State happens to be. I don't think that is realistic. It also isn't a realistic demand of the Secretary of Defense either. I can understand how the office staff at any location in the world can set up a government server and maintain their communications on it, but, for the actual Secretaries and their staff to comply is going to prove difficult at times.
I believe the law needs to be changed for staff that travels on the USA's business to allow for accommodation 'as able' when traveling.
I doubt government at any level jumped in with two feet to begin to use the internet and emails in a large number of communications. At the time wired messages were widely considered the best and most expedient method of communication in the State Department. Wiring communications are still used today and are probably still the most secure.
The law regarding federal government emails which is different than commercial emails is found under 44 US Code Chapter 31 - Records Management of Federal Agencies (click here).
The head of each Federal agency shall make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency’s activities.
The law states each Federal agency shall make...That means no different the rules the Senate and House make for themselves to be governed each federal agency will do the same thing. So, while Congress manages their emails according to their rules, the State Department does the same thing. That is why they have legal advisers.
When the former Secretary states she didn't know A from B about certain issues that might be accurate. The rules governing the departments activities are written by legal advisers and not the former Secretary. She might sign off on the rules governing the agency, but she didn't write the regulations.
And if she signed off on the regulations there is a good chance she was given a verbal description by the legal advisers that wrote the regulations. So, to say she had first hand knowledge of the email regulation is false.
These regulations are also a reason why an email was sent to all the agencies employees regarding the handling of their communications. Let's be clear. There is not precluding emails have to be through a government server, just that the emails will be forwarded to the government server and/or submitted to the State Department. The reason the former Secretary would require her staff to conduct their communications through one particular server is because it was easier for her to access one server while she was in route or half way around the world. The fact she traveled and may have used personal emails as a convenience to her location was a point also made by Mr. Davis.
The rules were published in the Federal Register on October 2, 2009. The Federal Register appears here (click here). It is 57 pages long and I guarantee you the former Secretary did not read the entire law or even bothered to read it at all because that is not her job. The legal adviser to the State Department would receive this rule and then write State Departments rules in compliance with the new regulations. This regulation is general and applies to all federal agencies, so each agency may interpret it differently depending on the departments use and generation of records.
The former Secretary did not plan to deceive the American people up on entering office. This was nearly a year after the Secretary assumed office. Then add to this the actual start up time of the State Department to comply with the regulations and that is at least a month. So, it is safe to assume the new regulations were completely in use from the 2009 regulation by January 1, 2010.
The former Secretary carried out the requirement of preserving the emails from her position within the federal government and provided them to the State Department by December 2014.
The change in regulations to the agencies came in 2014 and it specified all communication has to go through the government server. Personally, I think that is going to be very difficult to follow. One assumes the government server is reachable regardless where in the world the Secretary of State happens to be. I don't think that is realistic. It also isn't a realistic demand of the Secretary of Defense either. I can understand how the office staff at any location in the world can set up a government server and maintain their communications on it, but, for the actual Secretaries and their staff to comply is going to prove difficult at times.
I believe the law needs to be changed for staff that travels on the USA's business to allow for accommodation 'as able' when traveling.
