Official: Classified emails found from Powell and Rice tenures

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the immediate staff of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also received classified national security information on their personal email accounts, according to a memo written by the State Department watchdog that was released Thursday.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server has dogged her presidential campaign. Her campaign could try to blunt the criticism with the news that her predecessors in Republican administrations might have received such information on nonsecure servers.

Steve Linick, the inspector general for the State Department, said in a memo dated Wednesday that two emails sent to Powell and 10 emails sent to Rice’s staff contained classified national security information. Powell and Rice were the top diplomats under Republican President George W. Bush.