Exclusive: U.S. to shift 50 staff to boost office handling Clinton emails

[magical thyme]

Source: Reuters

The U.S. State Department plans to move about 50 workers into temporary jobs to bolster the office sifting through Hillary Clinton's emails and grappling with a vast backlog of other requests for information to be declassified, officials said on Tuesday.

The extra staff will not work on the monthly, court-ordered release of Clinton emails, which are being handled by about 20 permanent, and 30 part-time, workers, officials said. The new staff will fill in for those workers and may also handle other Clinton FOIA requests.

In addition to filling in for workers pulled from their normal duties to handle the crush of work from the Clinton emails, officials said the extra staff would help the department grapple with a surge in FOIA requests more generally, related litigation and a huge backlog of information requests.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he was naming Ambassador Janice Jacobs to serve as the State Department's "transparency coordinator" to help the agency respond to FOIA and congressional requests more efficiently.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/us-usa-election-clinton-statedept-exclus-idUSKCN0R82QG20150908

[Purveyor]

1. I was just about to touch this one off. Thanks for posting. eom

[randys1]

2. Jesus fucking christ the rightwing propaganda machine is powerful.

Look at what they can accomplish, take a NON story and turn it into the story of the CENTURY

[Divernan]

4. This was Kerry's decision & announcement; Reuters is hardly right-wing.

[Autumn]

6. I think what SOS Kerry decides to do about this and announces it is hardly right wing.

[Backwoodsrider]

8. I agree this is Kerry CYA

This email tiff is getting very serious and Kerry wants to make sure it appears the Whitehouse did not show bias. The democratic pres election could get very exciting if they find enough to wing her. I think its a pretty good size of American majority don't want a crazy repub as president so who are we going to choose as president? This could get very very interesting

[Autumn]

9. What States did here was interesting to me. I have to laugh at the knee jerk

OMG right wing attacks!

[karynnj]

13. in addition to all the email HRC dumped on them,

There are a huge number of FOIA queries that the State Department must respond to. Many actually were filed back in the HRC years.

This is Kerry adding resources and a new person to head this to both get this cleared up and to look into new procedures to handle this better and more efficiently.

No, it is not all about HRC. It is Kerry trying to fix an area for which the State Department has been criticized. He is simply doing a good job.

[Backwoodsrider]

15. I like to think the Beltway more dynamic

A lot goes on on many levels. In fact in my opinion not only does the Whitehouse look at the political effect of most major decisions in the current election season I would not be surprised that Obama is pushing for Biden to run and pissing the Clintons off. Remember even though they are both Democrats they got different irons in the fire, as do Bush and Trump.

[karynnj]

16. I doubt Obama is driving this

I read Kerry's statement on his new appointment. This IS about clearing up a valid criticism of the State Department. As head of the department, he knows the small group that typically did this work had something like three times as many requests, not even counting the preparation of Clinton ' s email.

This is Incidentially in line with Kerry's own values of open government and transparency. Here, he is working to have a team that could clean up the problem.

If he did NOT do something like this, he would be said to be a poor administrator. Not everything is about HRC.

[Backwoodsrider]

17. for whatever reason the review IS a good thing

And it is also over due. Early on I heard Kerry and Powell used the same email system as HC. Hope we find out what happened and get a system in place that reflects the level of security the SOS should have.

[karynnj]

18. They all used different email practices

Powell used both a State Department and a personal email for state department business. HRC exclusively used a personal server. Kerry from day one has excusively used the State.gov account and it has been archived in a timely manner.

[karynnj]

14. Secretary Kerry has been to HRC'S left through his entire

Career. In addition, he has a reputation for honesty and integrity.

Through all of this, he has worked to cooperate in getting the committees and others what they have the right to get. Whether you like it or not, he is doing his job here. His job is not to cover up for HRC.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. That's the point - thr right wing GOP committes are driving this, not Kerry

This is showing they are able to force Kerry what to do.

[leveymg]

26. No. The Benghazi Comm'te got nowhere until it came out that HRC withheld all of her email

That was after a Romanian hacker published email between Hillary and Sid Blementhal that had been FOIAed and subpoenaed. It later came out that Hillary had herself sent Sid presumed classified information.

If she had simply used the gov't system or even turned over her server to the Archives on the day she left office, classified materials would never have drawn the public attention of the intelligence community IG. When that office found classified and presumed classified materials in her insecure email, violations of classified information laws became a truly serious matter that drives the investigation.

[karynnj]

31. if you read Kerry's starements, he is not being pushed

By anything other than the need to comply with good practices in preserving records for history and responding better to FOIA requests.

The only RW connection is they are why there are three times the past level of FOIA requests. However, you could also blame HRC'S cavalier request that all her email be put on line. That alone seemed to exceed the ability of the department that handled these things.

These actions are putting in action the reccomendations Kerry got from the SD IG, who Kerry asked to review their practices. While the email mess made the weaknesses obvious, this is an effort to correct problems that have existed for years. The State Department received many criticisms that even beyond HRC, their systems did not allow fast FOIA requests and a lot of email that should be retained might not have been. It is not good when they find stuff months after they thought they did not have it.

They are steps that, if there were no Clinton mess, would get no attention - but if they did they would be applauded.
This is routed, not in liberal or RW philosophy, but good government practices. It might also have taken the pressure from being attacked to prioritize and increase resources on this. However, it sounds like they are working towards a better system -- rather than just pushing to get all of Clinton ' s email out there.

No matter what the motivation, this is good for those who want transparency. In fact, maybe HRC should endorse Kerry's effort here and commit to making the goals given goals she would have for cabinet departments when she is President.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. "The only RW connection is they are why there are three times the past level of FOIA requests"

Well, yes, that's the basic point, isn't it? They are driving this.

[karynnj]

39. You miss the bigger point - this has been a management problem for years

The State Department has long been given negative reviews on how well or how quickly they comply with FOIA and Congressional requests for information. (Nor is that partisan - I remember that SFRC Chair Kerry and Ranking Member Lugar mentioned in several hearings that reports they were entitled to were not available. Neither were anti-Clinton)

I do agree that the extra HRC work and triple FOIA was the straw that completely broke the camel's back and led to Kerry's request to the IG for recommendations on how to not just get the HRC stuff out, but fix the State Department practices. He is now implementing them, by both putting a career diplomat, who successfully managed cleaning an earlier mess involving passports and ramping up the number of people working. (It looks like even before the announcement they had gone from 12 to 20 - and that might be why more emails came out in August.)

Note that HRC's own - unprecedented - call to put all her emails on line - was as much a factor. Not to mention, had she given the SD all the emails - maybe even on a thumb drive like her lawyer got - soon after she left office, that effort would likely never have occurred. Nor would there have been all that much attention given to what might have been a similar decision to increase the size of that department.

[MBS]

29. " " " " n/t

[Divernan]

3. 9-12 month. project will take it PAST the primary election!

Application deadline is Sept. 18, and the experienced State Department workers selected will be reassigned for the next 9-12 months - through the end of June and possibly August, 2016. Thanks, Hillary! How much did you save with your private service versus what responding to your wizard executive decision is costing the American taxpayer?

The move illustrates the huge administrative burden caused by Clinton's decision to use a private email address for official communications as secretary of state and a judge's ruling in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that they be released.

The extra staff will not work on the monthly, court-ordered release of Clinton emails, which are being handled by about 20 permanent, and 30 part-time, workers, officials said. The new staff will fill in for those workers and may also handle other Clinton FOIA requests.

In a notice to employees on Sept. 2, the State Department advertised for people with skills in coordinating and assessing FOIA requests and deciding if information may be declassified and released to the public.

The notice, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, is entitled "Enhancing Transparency: Immediate Detail Opportunities At State" and calls for workers to apply for reassignment for 9 to 12 months. Applications are due on Thursday and the agency plans to make selections by Sept. 18.

[frylock]

5. The only thing Clinton was trying to save with her own mail server was her ass..

and her policy of asking for forgiveness rather than for permission is coming to bite her in that ass.

[840high]

12. Yep. I also read that

the government employee is going to be offered immunity.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Save her ass from what?

What, in 2009, did her ass need saving from?

[Divernan]

10. Let's do the math on what this will cost taxpayers.

50 people "with skills in coordinating and assessing FOIA requests & deciding if information may be declassified & released to the public."

So we're talking EXPERIENCED, not new hire/entry level GS State Department employees.

The State Department pays employees classified as information management specialists on a pay scale range from $60,000 to $122,000. http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/US-Department-of-State-Salaries-E32768.htm
Fair to estimate that experienced people in that classification will have moved up to $80,000 a year. Then add in all the benefits provided to all state department employees.

Life Insurance
Long Term Care Insurance
Annual Leave
Sick Leave
Family Medical Leave
Health Benefits Plan
10 Paid holidays
Thrift Savings Plan - Equivalent to 401K with government matching contributions.
Professional training and development programs
http://www.careers.state.gov/work/benefits

Before I retired from my government job, the received wisdom was that the benefits added approximately 30% to one's salary. So 1.3 times $80,000 =s $104,000 per employee, times 50 employees, equals a cool $FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND. And that does not include the Human Resources/Managerial costs of setting up, hiring and overseeing these temporary assignees.

AND, according to the Reuters report, these 50 people are in addition to those already working on this hot email mess.

The extra staff will not work on the monthly, court-ordered release of Clinton emails, which are being handled by about 20 permanent, and 30 part-time, workers, officials said. The new staff will fill in for those workers and may also handle other Clinton FOIA requests.

[bigworld]

23. Her foundation brings that in in a day

[Divernan]

24. That foundation has been very, very lucrative - & skims a % off the top.

And with the Clintons' personal wealth - all accumulated since they left the White House - five million is chump change. As a tax payer, I still don't like getting stuck with the bill for her inept management practices.

[oldandhappy]

7. The real scandal is the money this will cost

[Divernan]

11. Remember to rec this thread & get it on the greatest page, please.

[angrychair]

19. Here is the rub for me

If she is our candidate, I will vote for her.

Now the rub...

I would honestly prefer not to be in that situation. I really don't want to listen to scandal after scandal accusation and hear "Clinton this" and "Clinton that" for her entire time in office.
Why? 2018, that is why. Another year of this and then two more years into her presidency of it and voter apathy and disillusionment in government will be at all time highs and we will get our asses handed to us in the worst turnout vote ever, the wingnut fringe will be calling all the shots. Worst case? They control super majorities in both house and Senate and use it to impeach her on whatever charges they can manage to create.

[Divernan]

22. You make an extremely valid and alarming point.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. Upon reflection, I suspect most

Voters, including Dems will feel the same way.

[leveymg]

27. On further reflection, how about she removes herself from the race now for the sake of the Party?

Now is the time. Wait until later, and it will be vastly more damaging, one way or the other. Of course, that is, if she wants what's best for Democrats and this country.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

38. For her Quality is Never job one.

It was, is and will be always about them. Bill was a natural and loved crowds. He loved shaking hands, meeting people, and speaking in public. He gained energy from it and thrived in the limelight. She does not have that talent.

If she was a strong politician, don't you think she would be out there, every day, in every state, shaking every hand of every person she saw?

Instead, we got a lame, misdirected "listening tour." As if Hillary ever listens to anyone not in her close circle of cronies, like Sidney Blumenthal.

[Mike Nelson]

28. To those it may concern...

If Hillary Clinton loses, Republicans will switch to attacking anyone who replaces her... they will wage a smear campaign just as fierce, against Bernie, Joe, etc, etc...

[magical thyme]

30. doubtless. but the unfortunate fact is that some people make it easier for them

than others.

Some people, no matter what attacks they launch or where they try to find a smoking gun, just don't have much to go on, so if they handle the attacks reasonably well the Repubs can end up looking foolish to the vast majority. There's a reason Reagan was nicknamed "the teflon president."

Others, unfortunately, have a long history associated with their name, and have proven they don't handle the attacks well.

Until recently, Benghazi was just another Clinton scandal, until it revealed at the minimum a carelessness in handling of classified information by somebody who was in a position to be handling a lot of classified information and in a position likely to be a target of hacking by anybody interested in getting an inside scoop on our diplomacy.

I initially favored Warren over Clinton because of Clinton's policies on trade, Iraq, the Afghanistan surge and her warhawk mentality in general.

But I find her carelessness with her communications, intermingling work and personal business, and her handling of this situation now that it's become public, to be appalling.

Did she truly not know or consider the likelihood that foreign government and other hackers try to get at sensitive government data every day, that they sometimes accomplish it with even very sophisticated security in place, that having the secret service parked outside their home didn't provide internet security?

Or did she know all that, but put both personal convenience and a desire for privacy in matters both personal and job-related ahead of national security?

At this moment, there is no good answer to those questions. She's backed into a corner and she put herself there by her own poor judgement and poor choices.

SOS Kerry made his position pretty clear when he stated that he assumes his emails are hacked.

[Blue_Adept]

32. Wonderful to see how most here fall into the RW trap on this

The article says that it's dealing with a VAST BACKLOG OF OTHER REQUESTS for information to be declassified.

But the PERCEPTION is that it's all going to be dealing with the Clinton emails.

Take this with the recent bits from the IG office talking about how far too much material is classified when it shouldn't be, the turf wars that exist, and the way that every department gets its own say on what it wants to be classified within it and you have Government Bureaucracy in action.

But no, here's it all going to be just about Hillary.

[magical thyme]

33. from the OP article quotes:

"officials said the extra staff would help the department grapple with a surge in FOIA requests more generally, related litigation and a huge backlog of information requests."

From the linked article:

The extra staff will be doing the normal staff's normal duties, while the normal staff combs through the emils.

And the extra staff will handle the surge in FOIA requests (due to Clinton emails), related litigation (due to Clinton emails), and huge backlog (not due to Clinton emails).

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. "The new staff will fill in for those workers and may also handle other Clinton FOIA requests"

The move illustrates the huge administrative burden caused by Clinton's decision to use a private email address for official communications as secretary of state and a judge's ruling in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that they be released.
...
The extra staff will not work on the monthly, court-ordered release of Clinton emails, which are being handled by about 20 permanent, and 30 part-time, workers, officials said. The new staff will fill in for those workers and may also handle other Clinton FOIA requests.

In addition to filling in for workers pulled from their normal duties to handle the crush of work from the Clinton emails, officials said the extra staff would help the department grapple with a surge in FOIA requests more generally, related litigation and a huge backlog of information requests.

This is still basically about the RW-directed flood of Clinton-related FOIA requests.

[karynnj]

40. Don't forget the unprecedented need to put 55,000 pages of email online after carefully

processing them.

Though at this point, judges have intervened to set the schedule for releasing it, this started as a cavalier statement by HRC that the SD put all this online -- to show her complete transparency. That alone would have required the entire staff of that department - working exclusively on this - for something like 8 or 9 months.

I don't think THIS is all about the RW, this is about the SD, having asked the SD IG to look into what they were doing and critique it - now implementing major changes. In addition, to making changes to correct extremely poor processes - that developed over many decades since email grew in use, there is this temporary ramp up of effort to deal with the huge backup.

If this works, the next SoS might inherit a well designed management process that insures that what should be archived is and that accessing it is fast, accurate and efficient. Beyond just dealing with the back log and the RW/Clinton mess that Kerry walked into, if they succeed, this will be a contribution towards a more transparent government. This really is Kerry turning lemons into lemonade. As I said, his job is not covering for HRC.

[Sunlei]

34. They haven't even started FOI requests for Senator Sandors decades of communications.

Guess those requests for all his communications will ramp up if he wins the primary.

[magical thyme]

37. doubtless.