希拉里任職期間用私人電郵或違規(guī)
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state, State Department officials said, and may have violated federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record.
華盛頓——美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)院官員透露,希拉里·羅德姆·克林頓(Hillary Rodham Clinton)在擔(dān)任國(guó)務(wù)卿時(shí),只使用個(gè)人電子郵件賬戶來(lái)處理政府事務(wù),這可能違反了要求政府官員之間的通信應(yīng)作為機(jī)構(gòu)檔案加以保留的聯(lián)邦規(guī)定。
Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act.
克林頓在擔(dān)任國(guó)務(wù)卿的四年里沒(méi)有政府電子郵件賬戶。她的助手當(dāng)時(shí)也沒(méi)有按照《聯(lián)邦檔案法》(Federal Records Act)的規(guī)定,設(shè)法將她的個(gè)人電子郵件保存在國(guó)務(wù)院的服務(wù)器上。
It was only two months ago, in response to a new State Department effort to comply with federal record-keeping practices, that Mrs. Clinton’s advisers reviewed tens of thousands of pages of her personal emails and decided which ones to turn over to the State Department. All told, 55,000 pages of emails were given to the department.Mrs. Clinton stepped down from the secretary’s post in early 2013.
直到兩個(gè)月前,鑒于國(guó)務(wù)院履行聯(lián)邦檔案操作規(guī)范的新舉措,克林頓的幕僚才查閱了她的數(shù)萬(wàn)頁(yè)電子郵件,決定將哪些移交給國(guó)務(wù)院。提供給國(guó)務(wù)院的電子郵件共計(jì)5.5萬(wàn)頁(yè)??肆诸D卸任國(guó)務(wù)卿職務(wù),是在2013年初。
Her expansive use of the private account was alarming to current and former National Archives and Records Administration officials and government watchdogs, who called it a serious breach.
大量使用私人賬戶的行為,令國(guó)家檔案和記錄管理局(National Archives and Records Administration)的現(xiàn)任、前任官員以及政府監(jiān)督機(jī)構(gòu)大為吃驚,稱(chēng)這種行為是嚴(yán)重違規(guī)。
“It is very difficult to conceive of a scenario — short of nuclear winter — where an agency would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level-head officer to solely use a private email communications channel for the conduct of government business,” said Jason R. Baron, a lawyer at Drinker Biddle and Reath who is a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.
“很難想象這么做有什么理由,除非是‘核冬天’,一家政府機(jī)構(gòu)怎么可能允許其內(nèi)閣級(jí)別的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人完全通過(guò)私人郵件信道處理政府事務(wù),”律師賈森·R· 巴倫(Jason R. Baron)表示。巴倫曾任國(guó)家檔案和記錄管理局訴訟主管,現(xiàn)供職于Drinker Biddle and Reath律師事務(wù)所。
A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Nick Merrill, defended her use of the personal email account and said she has been complying with the “letter and spirit of the rules.”
克林頓的發(fā)言人尼克·梅里爾(Nick Merrill)對(duì)她使用個(gè)人電子郵件賬戶的行為做出了辯解,稱(chēng)她一直都遵守“規(guī)章的條文和精神”。
Under federal law, however, letters and emails written and received by federal officials, such as the secretary of state, are considered government records and are supposed to be retained so that congressional committees, historians and members of the news media can find them. There are exceptions to the law for certain classified and sensitive materials.
然而按照聯(lián)邦法律,國(guó)務(wù)卿等聯(lián)邦官員書(shū)寫(xiě)及收到的信件、電子郵件,被視為政府檔案,應(yīng)當(dāng)保留下來(lái),以供國(guó)會(huì)委員會(huì)、歷史學(xué)者和新聞媒體查閱。法律中對(duì)于某些保密或敏感的材料也提供了例外。
Mrs. Clinton is not the first government official — or first secretary of state — to use a personal email account on which to conduct official business.
克林頓并不是第一個(gè)使用個(gè)人郵箱處理公務(wù)的政府官員,也不是第一個(gè)這樣做的國(guó)務(wù)卿。
But her exclusive use of her private email, for all of her work, appears unusual, Mr. Baron said. The use of private email accounts is supposed to be limited to emergencies, experts said, such as when an agency’s computer server is not working.
但巴倫說(shuō),她在所有工作中都使用私人電郵,這種做法不同尋常。專(zhuān)家表示,按理應(yīng)該只有在緊急情況下才會(huì)使用私人電郵賬戶,比如機(jī)構(gòu)的計(jì)算機(jī)服務(wù)器無(wú)法正常工作的時(shí)候。
“I can recall no instance in my time at the National Archives when a high-ranking official at an executive branch agency solely used a personal email account for the transaction of government business,” said Mr. Baron, who worked at the agency from 2000 to 2013.
“我記得在國(guó)家檔案館工作時(shí),從來(lái)沒(méi)有遇到過(guò)行政部門(mén)機(jī)構(gòu)高級(jí)官員只用個(gè)人郵箱處理政務(wù)的情況,”巴倫說(shuō),他從2000年至2013年在該機(jī)構(gòu)任職。
Regulations from the National Archives and Records Administration at the time required any emails sent or received from personal accounts be preserved as part of the agency’s records.
美國(guó)國(guó)家檔案與文件署局(National Archives and Records Administration)當(dāng)時(shí)的規(guī)章要求,收發(fā)自個(gè)人賬戶的任何電郵,都要作為該機(jī)構(gòu)的記錄加以保存。
But Mrs. Clinton and her aides failed to do so.
不過(guò),克林頓及其助手們并未這么做。
It is not clear how many emails were in Mrs. Clinton’s account, and the process her advisers used to determine which ones related to her work at the State Department before turning them over.
目前尚不清楚克林頓的私人郵箱里有多少郵件,也不清楚她的顧問(wèn)在提交材料前,使用何種方法來(lái)判別哪些電郵涉及她在國(guó)務(wù)院工作。
“It’s a shame it didn’t take place automatically when she was secretary of state as it should have,” said Thomas S. Blanton, the director of the National Security Archive, a group based at George Washington University that advocates government transparency. “Someone in the State Department deserves credit for taking the initiative to ask for the records back. Most of the time it takes the threat of litigation and embarrassment.”
“她當(dāng)國(guó)務(wù)卿時(shí)沒(méi)有主動(dòng)照章辦事,這很遺憾,”國(guó)家安全檔案館(National Security Archive)館長(zhǎng)托馬斯·S·布蘭頓(Thomas S. Blanton)說(shuō),該組織設(shè)在喬治·華盛頓大學(xué)(George Washington University),主張?zhí)岣哒该鞫取?ldquo;國(guó)務(wù)院里有人主動(dòng)要求他們歸還記錄,這值得贊揚(yáng)。大多數(shù)時(shí)候,這都需要使出威脅手段,說(shuō)要提起訴訟,令他們難堪。”
Mr. Blanton said high-level officials should operate as President Obama does, emailing from a secure government account, with every record preserved for historical purposes.
布蘭頓說(shuō),高級(jí)官員應(yīng)該像奧巴馬總統(tǒng)那樣,從安全的政府帳戶發(fā)送電郵,這樣每封郵件都能保存下來(lái),成為歷史資料。
“Personal emails are not secure,” he said. “Senior officials should not be using them.”
“個(gè)人電郵不安全,”他說(shuō)。“高級(jí)官員不應(yīng)該使用它們。”
Penalties for not complying with federal record-keeping requirements are rare, because the National Archives has few enforcement abilities.
沒(méi)有照章保存聯(lián)邦記錄的行為極少遭受處罰,因?yàn)閲?guó)家檔案館幾乎沒(méi)有執(zhí)法權(quán)力。
Mr. Merrill, the spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, declined to detail why she chose to conduct State Department business from her personal account.
克林頓的發(fā)言人梅里爾拒絕詳細(xì)解釋為什么克林頓決定用個(gè)人賬戶開(kāi)展國(guó)務(wù)院政務(wù)活動(dòng)。
Mr. Merrill said that because Mrs. Clinton was sending emails to other State Department officials at their government accounts she had “every expectation they would be retained.” Mr. Merrill declined to answer questions about any emails that Mrs. Clinton may have sent to foreign leaders, people in the private sector, or government officials outside the State Department.
梅里爾說(shuō),克林頓把郵件發(fā)送到國(guó)務(wù)院其他官員的政府賬戶中,她“完全相信這些郵件能夠得以保存。”當(dāng)被問(wèn)及克林頓是否有可能向外國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人、私營(yíng)部門(mén)人士或國(guó)務(wù)院之外的政府官員發(fā)送過(guò)電郵時(shí),梅里爾拒絕作答。
The revelation about the private email account echoes longstanding criticisms directed at both the former secretary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for a lack of transparency and inclination toward secrecy.
一直有人詬病克林頓及其丈夫、前總統(tǒng)比爾·克林頓(Bill Clinton)行事缺乏透明度,風(fēng)格傾向于隱秘。本次私人電郵賬戶的曝光呼應(yīng)了這一說(shuō)法。
And others who, like Mrs. Clinton, are eyeing a candidacy for the White House are stressing a very different approach. Jeb Bush, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, released a trove of emails in December from his eight years as governor of Florida.
其他那些和克林頓一樣有意參選總統(tǒng)的人,都強(qiáng)調(diào)自己在這方面與她截然不同。去年12月,尋求共和黨總統(tǒng)候選人提名的杰布·布什(Jeb Bush)公開(kāi)了自己擔(dān)任佛羅里達(dá)州州長(zhǎng)八年來(lái)的電郵記錄。
It is not clear whether Mrs. Clinton’s private email account included encryption or other security measures, given the sensitivity of her diplomatic activity.
鑒于外交活動(dòng)的敏感性,目前尚不清楚克林頓的私人電郵賬戶是否采用了加密等安全措施。
Mrs. Clinton’s successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, has used a government email account since taking over the role, and his correspondence is being preserved contemporaneously as part of State Department records, according to his aides.
克林頓的繼任者、國(guó)務(wù)卿約翰·克里(John Kerry)的助手說(shuō),他自上任以來(lái)一直使用政府電郵賬號(hào),他的電郵同時(shí)也作為國(guó)務(wù)院記錄進(jìn)行了保存。
Before the current regulations went into effect, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who served from 2001 to 2005, used personal email to communicate with American officials and ambassadors and foreign leaders.
在這個(gè)規(guī)章生效時(shí)之前,2001至2005年的國(guó)務(wù)卿科林·L·鮑威爾(Colin L. Powell)在與美國(guó)官員、大使以及外國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人聯(lián)絡(luò)時(shí)使用個(gè)人電郵。
Last October, the State Department, as part of the effort to improve its record keeping, asked all previous secretaries of state dating back to Madeleine K. Albright to provide it with any records, like emails, from their time in office for preservation.
去年10月,國(guó)務(wù)院為了改善其記錄存檔狀況,要求自馬德琳·K·奧爾布賴(lài)特(Madeleine K. Albright)以來(lái)的所有前國(guó)務(wù)卿提交在任期間的各種記錄,用于存檔;電郵也在其中。
“These steps include regularly archiving all of Secretary Kerry’s emails to ensure that we are capturing all federal records,” said a department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.
“這些措施包括:定期歸檔國(guó)務(wù)卿克里的全部電郵,以確保我們獲得了所有的聯(lián)邦記錄,”國(guó)務(wù)院發(fā)言人珍·帕莎其(Jen Psaki)說(shuō)。
The existence of Mrs. Clinton’s personal email account was discovered as a House committee investigating the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi sought correspondence between Mrs. Clinton and her aides about the attack.
克林頓使用個(gè)人郵箱被發(fā)現(xiàn),是因?yàn)楸娮h院一個(gè)委員會(huì)在調(diào)查美國(guó)駐班加西領(lǐng)事館遭襲案時(shí),需要克林頓及其助手之間的相關(guān)電郵通信。
Two weeks ago, Mrs. Clinton provided the committee with about 300 emails — amounting to roughly 900 pages — about the Benghazi attacks that Mrs. Clinton’s aides had found among her personal emails.
兩周前,克林頓向該委員會(huì)提交了關(guān)于班加西攻擊案的約300封電郵,累積共提交了約900封。這些資料是克林頓的助手在其個(gè)人郵箱中找到的。