Pennsylvania Homeland Security chief slips up in private email

Contributed by Roumiana Deltcheva (Monday, September 13, 2010) | Category : Email security

A private email sent from the account of Pennsylvania Homeland Security chief James Powers pledges the organization's support for gas drilling companies.

The City Paper of Philadelphia obtained the message, which Powers mistakenly sent to an anti-drilling activist. Powers reportedly thought he was sending it to someone with pro-drilling interests.

"We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders," Powers wrote, according to a report by City Paper.

Outbound content filtering may have helped avoid Powers' misstep, and prevented the release of confidential information.

In trying to verify the authenticity of the email, City Paper received a response from Pennsylvania Governor Rendell's chief spokesman Gary Tuma, who confirmed the message was sent by Powers. Tuma also clarified reasons behind the email getting out by citing incidents of vandalism that have plagued drilling companies in the state.