National Security

Ex-NSA director: Clinton email setup ‘stupid and dangerous’

Former National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael Hayden said on Wednesday that Hillary Clinton should not have used a single account for all her emails as secretary of State.

“It’s stupid and dangerous,” Hayden, who led the CIA during George W. Bush’s presidency, said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

{mosads}Hayden said that “you put a really juicy target out there” by combining official and unofficial exchanges on the same email account, as Clinton did.

He said doing so puts the secretary and nation’s secrets at risk, and questioned its legality, noting that government accounts provide a certain level of security.

“I’d move heaven and earth to access the private email account of a foreign minister,” the former NSA director said, adding that he was “stunned” her staff allowed her to have one account.

Clinton has maintained that she was allowed to use a private email server during her four-year tenure at State, ending in 2013, something she has had to defend amid her 2016 White House bid.