Clinton Emails: Aides Discussed Message Security

The State Department has released the latest batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's tenure as US Secretary of State.

Around 7,000 pages of emails taken from Mrs Clinton's private email server were made public on Monday night, including 125 messages which have been censored because they contain information now deemed classified.

The issue has dogged her campaign to try to secure the Democratic nomination for president and she has now said the use of a private email server at her New York home for government business was a mistake.

In some of the released emails, the 67-year-old noted the need to protect sensitive information when discussing international affairs on emails outside the government's secure messaging systems.

Senior adviser Alec Ross, in a February 2010 email, expressed frustration at "the boundaries of unclassified email" in a message thought to focus on civil unrest in Iran.

In another email from January 2010, aide Cheryl Mills reacts to a New York Times story based on leaked classified cables sent by US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, describing it as a "breach of the law".

Mrs Clinton also expressed frustration at the State Department's decision to mark some documents as classified.

After an aide noted that a draft of remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was on the department's classified messaging system, she replied: "It's a public statement! Just email it."

The statement said that US and British officials would work together to promote peace. Mrs Clinton responds: "Well that is certainly worthy of being top secret."

Government secrecy law experts have said there is almost no possibility of criminal action being taking against Mr Clinton or her top aides over now-classified information sent over unsecure email.

But the issue has affected her campaign, particularly in key swing states where growing numbers of voters have indicated they see her as untrustworthy.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, said none of the information released on Monday was marked as classified when the emails were sent or received by Mrs Clinton. He added that redactions in some emails were only made prior to their release under the Freedom of Information Act.

The State Department has now released 13,269 pages of emails - more than 25% of the 30,000 pages provided by Mrs Clinton.