NSA director cautiously criticizes Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server

Testifying in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Thursday, Rogers took questions about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server from Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

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Rogers did say that if a foreign government official used a private email server, it would be considered a potential vulnerability – one that could be easy to exploit.

“To your knowledge”, Cotton began, “did the State Department ever ask the NSA about the wisdom of setting up a private server so Secretary Clinton could conduct official State Department business?”

Rogers: “I’m not aware of whether they did or didn’t sir”.

Rogers said he did not want to be dragged into the issue, but Cotton said he wanted the NSA director’s “professional opinion”.

Rogers replied that he would advise the Cabinet member to comply with whatever policies governed their department.

“What would be your response if the current secretary of state or another cabinet member came to you and said ‘Admiral Rogers, I would like to set up a private, nongovernmental server and use that to conduct official business?”

Communications to and from senior US officials are valuable to foreign intelligence agencies, and protecting them should be a priority, Rogers added without commenting directly on the Democratic presidential candidate.

Rogers stated that the new technology and applications denying outside access to encrypted data “represent a challenge” to the ability of the NSA to generate intelligence insight. Investigators have determined that Clinton sent and received classified information from her private account. “I apologize”.

“I don’t see the relevance of that to this committee”, Feinstein said after Cotton’s questions, “however that’s just my opinion”.

Clinton’s irregular email arrangement is now under investigation by the FBI, which recently seized her private server.

Cotton: “Could I ask you to check the records and get back to us in writing please?”