Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic mentor, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, made security of computers and information technology Job One, and ripped employees when a computer packed with classified information went missing.
”I don’t care how skilled you are as a diplomat, how brilliant you may be at meetings, or how creative you are as an administrator,” Albright said in May 2000 when she worked for former President Bill Clinton, ”if you are not professional about security, you are a failure.”
Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. AP Photo
She blew up over security lapses capped by the missing computer and called a staff meeting of 800 to bark her concerns, according to a New York Times report.
”You may have seen reports indicating that I am furious about these incidents,” she said. ”Well, I am, and I hope you are, too.”
The 2000 report is being sent around Washington in official circles as an example of how security may not have been Clinton’s top issue. She is being probed for having classified information on her private email server. Reports suggest the information wasn’t stamped classified but should have been.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
