AP: Top Obama Appointees Using Secret E-mail Addresses

FILE – In this April 12, 2013 file photo, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2014, and the HHS. Some of President Barack Obama’s political appointees, including the secretary for Health and Human Services, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

According to a report from the AP, top political Obama appointees in the administration are using secret government e-mail addresses, and many federal agencies have thus far failed to disclose their addresses to the Associated Press as part of a three-month old request.

Those making use of secret addresses include Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius – pictured above.

AP through a FOIL request – Freedom of Information Act – requested the addresses earlier this year. The AP article lays out how the Labor Department initially asked the wire service to pay $1 million to cover the cost of researching the request and providing the information that was being sought, most likely as a deterrent.

The agencies in question claim that the e-mails sent from or received by private accounts are still provided when specific requests for information are made,just the same as emails from regular government addresses and FOIL requests.

They also have claimed that the accounts were necessary to avoid flooding their inboxes, and said they were a good way for officials to separate internal business from e-mails they exchange with the public. Of course, this sounds strikingly familiar to how the IRS targeted groups out of a flooding of paperwork – tantamount to an admittance of incompetency,

The AP reports that the following 10 agencies have failed to turn over a list of their secret e-mail addresses, but added that all the agencies say they are planning on responding:

• Environmental Protection Agency
• The Pentagon
• Veterans Affairs
• Transportation
• Treasury
• Justice
• Housing and Urban Development
• Homeland Security
• Commerce
• Agriculture