“Secret” Email Account Used By Secretary of Ag

The Associated Press recently reported that it is common practice within the Obama administration for officials to use secret email accounts to conduct business, which some argue is a way for officials to avoid federal transparency laws.

The AP reported that the heads of the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture used secret email addresses for internal communication, which has been criticized as a way for administration officials to skirt public oversight.

Previous emails, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, from the Environmental Protection Agency show that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack used a secret, non-public email account to communicate with the secret email account of former EPA administrator Lisa Jackson which used the fake name Richard Windsor.

A 2009 email exchange between Jackson’s alias account and Vilsack reveal that the Agriculture Secretary was using an account “jd@osec.usda.gov.”