The editors at the Washington Post are either dumb, or the most reliable Karl Rove shills imaginable. Ignoring the reporting in their own paper they today write:
THE STORY of the missing White House e-mails is at that strange moment in the arc of a Washington uproar where it’s not clear whether it will turn out to be scandal or sideshow. There was legitimate reason for the White House to seek to comply with Hatch Act strictures and separate political from official business. But it’s clear — indeed, the White House has acknowledged — that officials there received sloppy guidance about when to use their official White House e-mail accounts and when to use other accounts supplied by the Republican National Committee.
But on Wednesday the White House explained the guidance during a press conference call with White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. Dan Froomkin reported for the Washington Post:
[W]hen I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with.
…
"As a result, personnel working on behalf of the EOP [Executive Office of the President] are expected to only use government-provided e-mail services for all official communication."
The handbook further explains: "The official EOP e-mail system is designed to automatically comply with records management requirements."
And if that wasn’t clear enough, the handbook notes — as was the case in the Clinton administration — that "commercial or free e-mail sites and chat rooms are blocked from the EOP network to help staff members ensure compliance and to prevent the circumvention of the records management requirements."
Some sloppy editorial …