-Caveat Lector-
Former CIA director's security clearance pulled
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
By ROBERT BURNS
WASHINGTON (August 20, 1999 6:43 p.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The Central Intelligence Agency said Friday
it has cut off former CIA Director John Deutch's access to classified
information in response to violating agency rules by keeping secret files on
an unsecured computer at his home.
Suspending the security clearances of a former CIA director is highly
unusual. Agency spokesman William Harlow said he knew of no precedent.
The decision was made by CIA Director George Tenet, Deutch's
immediate successor, who acted after reviewing a CIA inspector general's
July 13 report on the former director's improper handling of classified
materials.
"Director Tenet regrets that it was necessary for him to take this action,
particularly in light of Dr. Deutch's distinguished record of public service,"
the CIA public affairs office said in a written statement.
The CIA normally does not announce suspension of security clearances but
did this time because of prior news coverage about the Deutch case,
officials said.
John Pike, an intelligence expert at the Federation of American Scientists,
said he believes Tenet acted because of the public uproar over allegations
that Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, gave China
secrets about America's nuclear arsenal. The Lee investigation has
unleashed an avalanche of charges about government inattention to lapses
in protection of classified materials.
"There was no way they could conceivably explain letting Deutch off the
hook" in light of the Lee case, Pike said, even though the Deutch mistakes
at the time were regarded by most people as "the sort of normal violation
that is against the rules but is frequently practiced" and not punished.
Deutch is an unpaid consultant to the CIA; the suspension of his security
clearances makes it unlikely that relationship will continue, Terrence
O'Donnell, his personal attorney, said in an interview. O'Donnell said the
CIA gave no assurance when the suspension might be reconsidered.
Deutch, a former deputy defense secretary who spent 38 years in public
service, was CIA director from May 1995 to December 1996. When he
was leaving his CIA post, agency technicians went to his home for routine
checks to ensure that secrets were properly protected. They found 31
classified documents on a CIA-issued computer not configured for
classified work.
In April 1999 the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Deutch but
recommended that the CIA review Deutch's continued suitability to hold
high-level security clearances. Justice concluded Deutch's security lapses
were reckless rather than criminal.
In its statement Friday, the CIA said Tenet decided to suspend Deutch's
clearances indefinitely in light of the "nature of the security violations
involved" and Deutch's responsibility as a senior intelligence official to set
the highest standards in the protection of classified information.
Deutch issued a written statement through the CIA in which he
acknowledged he erred by using an unsecured computer to write classified
documents and memoranda at his home, but he stressed that investigators
found no information was compromised as a result of his lapses.
"I respect the decision of the director to suspend my CIA clearances,"
Deutch wrote. "As for the future, I intend to do everything in my power to
reassure my colleagues at the agency of my commitment to comply with the
rules that safeguard classified information."
Just last month Deutch concluded a stint as chairman of a bipartisan
commission that assessed the government's preparedness to combat the
spread of weapons of mass destruction, a role in which he relied on CIA
security clearances.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Wingate
California Director
SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL
Anomalous Images and UFO Files
http://www.anomalous-images.com
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