Documents released after a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that Defense Secretary Ash Carter used his personal email account to conduct official business until last December.
The Pentagon released a batch of 1,336 pages of Carter's personal emails late Friday. The Associated Press and other media outlets requested information about his email use as part of the Freedom of Information Act.
The New York Times initially reported last December that Carter had sometimes used his personal email address to conduct government business, in violation of the Pentagon's policy. Carter began used his personal email beginning in February 2015, when he was sworn in as defense secretary. The Pentagon's ban of personal email for government business dates to 2012.
The revelations of the extent of the defense secretary's personal email use come on the heels of the revelation last March of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of her private email account when she was secretary of state. Carter also continued to use his personal email after a teenager hacked CIA Director John Brennan's personal email account in October 2015.
In a statement last December, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Carter “stopped such use of his personal email and further limited his use of email altogether.”
