

Napolitano: I don't use email at all - ra5cal
http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2012/09/napolitano-i-dont-use-email-at.php

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jandrewrogers
For those that do not understand the subtext, the reason Napolitano does not
use email is that there is no persistent, written record with her name on it
that can be used as evidence against her. This is a common strategy/policy
used by many people, particularly among the political class. It is an
excellent way to inject ambiguity into any potential culpability.

It is a common practice for people that wish to minimize evidence trails
should things come to that. Don't conflate "don't use" with "ignorant of". It
is a voluntary choice.

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jeffchuber
This is also exactly why she should be forced to use email. Any appointed
government position should come under extra public scrutiny.

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msh
Should all her face2face conversations be recorded too?

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fleitz
In a public capacity, certainly. The DHS should work with other branches of
government to ensure that the conversations of all public employees are
recorded and sent to the public at large for review.

By having her conversations recorded and played back in Wal-Marts average
citizens could report any suspicious activity she makes to a Wal-Mart manager.
What if a Wal-Mart customer recognized someone she was meeting with as a
terrorist in disguise. Or that someone had brought more than 2 oz of water to
a meeting and that it might be a bomb.

These are important measures that she should be taking to ensure her freedom.
Just like the government monitors our conversations at 655 Folsom to protect
our freedom, we should monitor theirs to ensure their freedom. Government
officials usually enjoy the most amount of freedom in a society, we know that
terrorists hate us for our freedom and we know that they've attempted to
destroy government buildings during 9/11, therefore the public should be on
high alert to help government officials maintain their freedom by monitoring
all their communications. It's really the least we can do to protect them from
freedom hating terrorists.

Unless she's a terrorist herself, or doesn't love freedom I'm not sure why she
would be trying to hide her conversations from us.

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Uchikoma
Best HN comment ever.

~~~
officemonkey
No, it's really not. Anything which makes HN more like reddit is not a good
thing.

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glesica
What's wrong with sarcasm/satire as a means for making an excellent point?

~~~
Uchikoma
Exactly.

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zdw
The DHS should be broken back up and most of the sub-agencies should be done
away with (I'm looking at you TSA).

Much like the military, it's a solution in search of a problem, and it'll
manage to find problems in places where none exist, or where it's presence is
inappropriate and unjustified.

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dfc
The military is a solution in search of problem? Seriously?

I am assuming that getting rid of most of the DHS sub-agencies was an
exaggeration. But I can not understand why you would say the military is a
solution in search of a problem.

~~~
4ad
And I can not understand how can you _not_ say the military is a solution in
search of a problem.

~~~
dreamdu5t
Because self-defense of active threats is not the only purpose of the
military. The military does not need to involved in combat to be part of an
active geopolitical strategy. It's mere existence and size are themselves an
extremely effective tool for peaceful foreign policy.

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alid
Intriguing! It makes perfect sense given the nature of her role and position,
but I'm curious how she operates at such a strategic level without it - if not
to send messages, to receive them? I thought mobile networks would be just as
liable to be tapped? What tools would they use to communicate?

~~~
brown9-2
I'm curious how this affects the people beneath her as well - if their
communication patterns have to be altered to fit in with the boss.

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chmars
Many other officials don't use mail either – they've staff doing their
communication for them … and for the remaining very private communication,
they often use personal telephone calls, SMS and so on. That's simply how (at
least older or less tech-savvy) officials work.

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skym
My first reaction wasn't anger, it was jealousy.

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willholloway
George Bush didn't email either, he didn't want anyone reading 'his personal
stuff'.

I always suspected he was trying to avoid Nixon's mistake of leaving the tape
recording machine running that LBJ installed in the Oval office. I didn't like
it then and I don't like it now.

Americans deserve full transparency from their government.

That said, with the adversarial nature of party politics and the limited
sophistication of the public's political consciousness, not creating a
persistent record may be a rational and understandable choice, even for a
public servant with nothing to hide and every reason to feel proud of the work
that they do.

~~~
brown9-2
Interestingly, George W Bush used to be big on personal email but decided to
put a stop to it before he was inaugerated:
[http://gawker.com/5089305/presidents-gotta-give-up-
the-e+mai...](http://gawker.com/5089305/presidents-gotta-give-up-the-e+mail-
ghost)

I think though that his reasoning is not as cynical as you make it out - there
would be some concern that personal email sent to the President from friends,
family etc would fall under the official records act.

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freditup
I don't see any problem with any elected official not using email. I don't
care if they avoid technology for the most part. (I know this may lead to them
not being informed about technological issues, and this is a negative, but I'd
rather have them be knowledgeable in other areas.)

What is a problem is that the DHS secretary would be so disconnected from
technology. I personally think that the US is still quite vulnerable to
cyberattacks, and that this should be a major national security priority.
(It's possible cyberdefense is kept under tight secrecy and there's a whole
lot more of it than I'm aware of.)

~~~
riffic
>elected official

who voted for her?

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jaryd
This reminds me of the SOPA discussions when some of the panel members openly
stated (I think with a chuckle) that they weren't sure how this whole
"Internet" thing worked... I don't know much about Napolitano's abilities in
this arena, but it seems to me that an important part of being an influencer
and a decision maker is knowledge not entirely gleaned from research,
briefings, and PSAs.

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netdog
email is a useful messaging system.

However, email is not: 1) a reliable messaging system, 2) a secure messaging
system, 3) a private communication conduit.

