Hillary Clinton: State Department was missing top oversight official during her time as secretary of state

Lack of oversight adds to questions surrounding Hillary Clinton’s transparency

(Getty Images)

The US State Department was missing a permanent watchdog for the entire time Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, the Wall Street Journal reported, raising more questions about her transparency ahead of her near-certain presidential campaign.

No evidence indicates that Mrs Clinton was directly responsible for no inspector general being appointed during her tenure, but the State Department has never gone longer without one since the position was created in 1957.

Inspectors general are responsible for oversight in various government agencies.

The president is responsible for appointing the inspector general and the State Department was the only agency that did not see either a confirmed or nominated inspector general during that five-year period.

Harold Geisel served as the acting inspector general during Mrs Clinton’s time as secretary of state, but was restricted by law from becoming the full-time inspector general because he had a long history in the State Department.

The White House would not comment on why there was no nomination or appointment for the position for five years, but said that the inspector general’s office released more than 450 reports in that time, the Journal reported.

The State Department’s lack of a permanent watchdog is not illegal nor does it automatically indicate wrongdoing, but it does nothing to help Mrs Clinton’s reputation for a lack of transparency.

Even though she has not yet declared that she will run for president in 2016, she has faced the most heat of any potential presidential candidate for using a private email account and a private email server while she was conducting government business as secretary of state.

Mrs Clinton says she has turned over all work-related emails to the State Department for review, but also admitted to deleting emails she considered personal, prompting some political opponents to speculate that she may have deleted other emails.

She also said she would not be turning over her email server, which is in her New York residence.

Follow @PaytonGuion on Twitter.