-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- From: http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/033100wh-email.html The New York Times March 31, 2000 Clinton Aide Vows to Provide Subpoenaed E-Mail Soon By MARC LACEY ASHINGTON, Mar. 30 -- The White House counsel, Beth Nolan, testified before a Congressional committee today that the large cache of misplaced electronic mail at the center of a controversy would be recovered and supplied to investigators within six months, far sooner than her previous prediction of a two-year delay. But the contracts that the White House signed this week with computer companies to recover the lost messages for an estimated $2 million did little to stem criticism from Congressional Republicans, who are furious that presidential aides did not disclose the problem when they learned of it almost two years ago. In June 1998, top White House officials were told that their computer system was not storing some e-mail correspondence properly because of unintentional system errors. The problem was fixed in November 1998 but thousands of messages received by presidential aides before then were not put into an archival system that made them available for searches in response to subpoenas by a variety of investigating agencies. A separate flaw in the computer system in Vice President Gore's office has affected incoming and outgoing e-mail correspondence. Ms. Nolan said that computer specialists are still trying to fix the problem there; meanwhile, she said, aides to Mr. Gore have been instructed to print out incoming messages in case they are needed later. Nobody is sure what is on the misplaced electronic correspondence, which involves messages sent to White House personnel from outside the system and covers 1996 to 1998. But investigations of several controversies, including campaign finance and Monica S. Lewinsky, were underway in that period. At a hearing today before the House Government Reform Committee, Ms. Nolan testified that White House officials learned of the problem in 1998 but only recently became aware that it might have kept the White House from supplying correspondence sought by independent counsels, congressional committees and the Justice Department. "No one attempted to hide responsive information from this committee or from any other investigative body," said Ms. Nolan, speaking for the executive office of the president. "The E.O.P. has produced or identified to this committee all responsive information that it located, including over 7,700 pages of e-mail records in the campaign finance investigation alone." But Ms. Nolan, who took over the White House's top legal job last August and testified before Congress today for the first time in the post, came under harsh criticism from Republicans who did not believe her account. "I seriously doubt that explanation," said Representative Dan Burton, the Republican of Indiana who is the committee's chairman. He vowed to introduce a House resolution recommending that Attorney General Janet Reno name a special counsel to investigate the matter. The Justice Department's campaign finance task force is already conducting a criminal investigation of the controversy, including contentions that White House officials threatened the computer specialists who discovered the problem to keep the matter under wraps. Mr. Burton is skeptical that the Justice Department will vigorously investigate the matter. Still, he recommended today that the department prosecute a White House computer specialist for committing perjury in connection with the affair. Daniel Barry, the specialist, filed an affidavit in a civil suit in which he said that White House e-mail messages were being stored by the Automated Records Management System, an archive that could be searched for subpoenaed messages, since 1994. But in that affidavit, he did not mention the problem that had resulted in large numbers of e-mail messages not be properly captured. Ms. Nolan and Robert Raben, a Justice Department lawyer, testified today they did not know who assisted Mr. Barry in filing his affidavit. Irritating congressional Republicans, Ms. Nolan also maintained that while Mr. Barry's affidavit may not have disclosed information about the missing e-mails, it was still literally true. Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, accused his Republican colleagues of overreaching in an effort to create another scandal. He said that not enough information was known to determine whether White House officials had illegally covered up the computer problems to stymie investigations of the administration. "Deliberate concealment would seem to be a case of obstruction of justice," Mr. Waxman said. "Honest confusion, on the other hand, would be regrettable but understandable. And until we know the facts, we should be careful about making unsubstantiated accusations." Ms. Nolan said the question of what the e-mail messages contain may be resolved within 170 days, after two Virginia-based contractors -- E.C.S. Technologies and the System Research and Applications Corporation -- scan the messages from backup computer tapes. Ms. Nolan said that the White House would turn over any relevant correspondence to investigators starting in June. But Republicans are furious that they do not already have the messages, and say they are concerned that the White House will try to drag out the process of finding and turning over the e-mail messages, perhaps until after the presidential election or after Mr. Clinton leaves office. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! 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