Defense Secretary’s emails released

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Ash Carter continued to use a personal email account for government work for at least four months last year after the White House questioned the Pentagon about why he was using it, according to copies of Carter’s emails released by the Defense Department on Friday.

The New York Times reported in December that Carter had relied on the account at least through May, two months after the newspaper reported that Hillary Clinton had exclusively used a personal email account when she was secretary of state.

According to the emails released Friday, Carter continued to use the account for government work at least until September. Carter said in December he had made a mistake in using the account. Since 2012, the Defense Department has prohibited its employees from using personal email accounts for official work.

The Pentagon released 1,336 pages of Carter’s emails and attachments Friday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests by The Times and other media outlets.

In May, the White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, directed the White House counsel’s office to contact the Defense Department to ensure that Carter was following all laws and regulations on email use.

Many of the released emails were heavily redacted. Others deal with administrative matters, speaking engagements, personnel decisions and news reports. One of the redacted emails says “for official use only.” That designation is usually given to sensitive government information that is not classified.

Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Carter had taken responsibility in December for his actions.

“While still acknowledging the mistake, the emails released today again show that he did not email anything classified and all of his work-related emails are preserved within the federal records system,” Cook said.

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