--- description: Hillary Clinton requested a secure smartphone in 2009 during the early days of tenure as Secretary of State but the NSA rejected the request title: Hillary Clinton Emails: NSA Rejected Secure Phone Request image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195cd3545977864/69888b603c1639157545c783/hillary-clinton-emails.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hillary Clinton's 2009 Request for Secure Smartphone Rejected by NSA  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2016 12:33 PM CUT  Hillary Clinton holds a press conference regarding her UN Woman's Day speech and her email controversy at United Nations on March 10, 2015 in New York City. Hillary Clinton holds a press conference regarding her UN Woman's Day speech and her email controversy at United Nations on March 10, 2015 in New York City.Steve Sands—WireImage  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2016 12:33 PM CUT Hillary Clinton requested a secure smartphone in 2009 during the early days of tenure as Secretary of State but the National Security Agency (NSA) rejected the request, according to [emails released this week](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/emails-clinton-sought-secure-smartphone-rebuffed-nsa-37700771 "undefined"). The emails, released after a legal battle between [conservative group Judicial Watch](http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-state-department-documents-show-that-nsa-rebuffed-hillary-clintons-attempts-to-obtain-a-secure-blackberry/ "undefined") and the State Department, show that Clinton began using her private email address on her Blackberry a month after to communicate with top aides. The newly-released emails suggest that providing Clinton with a secure device ranked high among the early priorities of her top aides. Clinton preferred checking messages on a personal device rather than using a desktop or laptop computer, according to the emails. The NSA said providing a secure device would be too costly. “We were politely told to shut up and color,” said Donald R. Reid, the State Department’s assistant director for security infrastructure, in one of the emails. Clinton—the frontrunner in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary—has [come under fire for using a private email server](http://time.com/4201045/hillary-clinton-emails-timing/ "undefined") for official business. The former Secretary of State has apologized for using a private server, but she has insisted that it was never used to send classified information. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4262572/hillary-clinton-emails-nsa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4262572/hillary-clinton-emails-nsa/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton's 2009 Request for Secure Smartphone Rejected by NSA","datePublished":"2016-03-17T12:33:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:59:13.900Z","description":"'We were politely told to shut up and color'","url":"https://time.com/4262572/hillary-clinton-emails-nsa/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195cd3545977864/69888b603c1639157545c783/hillary-clinton-emails.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb195cd3545977864/69888b603c1639157545c783/hillary-clinton-emails.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton emails nsa","caption":"Hillary Clinton emails nsa","creditText":"Steve Sands—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4262572/hillary-clinton-emails-nsa/","name":"Hillary Clinton's 2009 Request for Secure Smartphone Rejected by NSA"}}]}] ```