State Department regulations allowed the Secretary of State to use an external email server in their official capacity.  As I said, Colin Powell did exactly the same thing, although his reason was because when he came in, State Dept. was woefully behind technologically.<p>&gt; And then there&#x27;s intent. One must ask &quot;Why did she request that a separate server be set up?&quot; and then follow her answer to the base of her justification. Why her request? Is her justification valid? Was she ignorant of the ramifications (also bad if you&#x27;re running for the Presidency)?<p>These are all good questions. It sounds like she wanted to retain her personal email and be able to field personal business from that same account.<p>However, as it stands she wasn&#x27;t required to provide any sort of official justification.<p>I often wonder if anyone told her how bad this could look for her, and whether she listened or not.  I know from people that have worked directly with her that she is not particularly tech-savvy, but that could mean that maybe she thought having a personal server would shield her in ways it cannot, or it could mean that she didn&#x27;t think it would be a big deal at all.  Either way, poor judgement I think.