US State Department Failure to Disclose Information ‘Embarrassing Failure’

US Senator John Cornyn asked US Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, Joyce Barr, whether Hillary Clinton complied with FOIA requests to provide the Agency all e-mails she had received during her tenure as Secretary of State in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Department of State has been shamefully deficient in complying with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), US Senator John Cornyn said in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

“The 37 out of 100 that the State Department has gotten on [access to information] score card for FOIA is an embarrassing failure of the agency,” Cornyn said.

During the hearing, Cornyn specifically asked US Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, Joyce Barr, whether Hillary Clinton complied with FOIA requests to provide the Agency all e-mails she had received during her tenure as Secretary of State.

In March 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton used a personal e-mail address for official business while she served as Secretary of State from 2009 until 2013.

Barr answered she was not aware that Clinton did not have a government e-mail account at that time, and added that she took Clinton’s word for submitting all received e-mails.

The State Department previously stated it is reviewing Clinton's e-mails and will make them public as soon as possible.

The Freedom of Information Act of 1966 is a US federal law that allows full or partial disclosure of government documents.