The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used his personal email for work during the early part of his tenure.
Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement Wednesday Carter has acknowledged the use of his private email account was wrong. He stressed Carter does not use his personal email or official email for classified material.
The statement was originally provided in response to a New York Times report that Carter used private email potentially violating a 2012 Defense Department ban on the practice.
Cook says as a result of the mistake Carter has "stopped such use of his personal email and further limited his use of email altogether."
Carter was appointed to the post of defense secretary in February, just months before Hillary Clinton was engulfed in controversy regarding her use of a private server, which she used to send and receive messages during her tenure as Secretary of State.