Clash Over Defense Secretary’s Personal Email Continues

The Office of the Defense Secretary has until March 25 to hand over emails and internal policy communications on the use of personal email for official business.

That’s according to a March 18 letter from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “Three months after my initial request, it is difficult to understand why the department has not been willing to provide detailed answers, and the department has not asserted a valid reason to withhold that information,” Chaffetz wrote to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Chaffetz warned that the committee “may use the compulsory process” if the Pentagon does not comply.

In December, Chaffetz wrote to Carter after The New York Times broke the story that Carter—at a time of saturation coverage of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s travails over past use of a private email server—had also conducted official business on a personal email account. Carter quickly apologized and said no classified information was exchanged.

Also waiting for a Pentagon response on documents relating to Carter’s actions is Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who sent Carter a similar letter in February. His spokeswoman told Government Executive that Grassley has not received a response from the Pentagon, and that his staff has been following up regularly to check on the status. On Wednesday, Defense officials told Grassley to expect some documents and a staff review of them in two weeks.

Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said in a statement, "We provided the [House] committee with a staff briefing earlier this year, and we will continue to provide them with additional information going forward.”