In a move that goes against a department-wide ban, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson and 28 of his senior staffers were found to have been accessing their personal email accounts from work computers for more than a year.
Bloomberg reported that certain DHS officials, including Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Chief of Staff Christian Marrone and General Counsel Steven Bunnell, were exempt from the ban through informal waivers.
DHS's press secretary told Bloomberg the department would suspend all access to personal webmail accounts and only the chief of staff will be able to provide exemptions.
The news follows the controversy surrounding revelations that Hillary Clinton's used her private email server during her time as Secretary of State. Clinton has argued she broke no laws by using the server because she forwarded government-related communications to her government account.
