White House Data Unsearched
By George Lardner Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday , April 18, 2000 ; A27
The White House has a huge trove of computerized records that
have never been searched during the criminal and congressional
investigations of the Clinton administration.
The records appear to be covered by various subpoenas that called
on the White House to turn over relevant records contained
oncomputer disks, computer entries and tapes. The White House
says much – though not all – of the material is likely
to be duplicative of the hundreds of thousands of paper pages it
has already produced in response to an avalanche of subpoenas.
Officials say they have no intention of examining the electronic
records – memos, speeches, drafts, schedules, notes and
other items written on the computers of former staffers –
because of the prohibitive costs involved. The documents are in
addition to the missing e-mails that the White House is now
attempting to reconstruct.
White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said that while "a subpoena can
ask for the moon, that doesn't mean we have to produce it." He
said the White House must make "a good-faith, reasonable search
for material that may be responsive to a subpoena, but we don't
think it reasonable, given the time and expense," to search all
individual hard drives and back-up tapes that might be covered.
Kennedy said there are about 600 tapes of the hard or "C" drives
of former aides to President Clinton and Vice President Gore that
are routinely archived as they leave their White House jobs. The
computers can then be used by their successors. Kennedy said the
backup tapes that contain the missing e-mails also have materials
taken from the "F," or shared, drives of White House computers.
"Because of the time and expense involved, they [the computer
drives] have not been searched as a general matter and the people
who have issued subpoenas understand that," Kennedy said.
A former White House computer specialist, Sheryl L. Hall, said in
a March 7 affidavit that she was told by a White House staffer
several weeks ago that plans were afoot to destroy existing C
drive tapes and to stop making any more. Among the tapes that
have been saved, she said, are data from the hard drives of
ex-staffers such as Linda Tripp, the secretaries to former White
House counsel Bernard Nussbaum and former associate White House
counsel William Kennedy III.
Tripp was the confidante of former White House intern Monica S.
Lewinsky. Nussbaum and Kennedy were leading subjects of
investigation in the controversy over FBI background files that
were improperly obtained by the Clinton White House in 1993-94.
Responding this month to Hall's affidavit in a lawsuit filed by
Judicial Watch, a conservative group that uncovered the e-mail
gap, Michael J. Lyle, director of the White House office of
administration, said "no proposal is actively under
consideration" to destroy the hard-drive tapes or to stop making
them.
Lyle assured the court that the 600 tapes had been secured in a
special vault with highly secure locks. Also being kept there are
3,763 backup tapes containing F drive material and e-mails that
were never produced in response to various subpoenas.
Jim Kennedy said destruction of the hard-drive tapes might have
been "discussed" at a meeting about what to do with them. But he
said, "there was never any plan to destroy them."
The White House has ordered a $3 million reconstruction of
missing e-mail correspondence because it erroneously assured
investigators that all such relevant messages had been produced.
But Kennedy said the White House had always been candid with
investigators about its determination not to conduct general
searches of backup tapes or individual hard drives.
For example, he cited a 1998 exchange of letters with independent
counsel Ralph Lancaster about his investigation of Labor
Secretary Alexis M. Herman. A White House lawyer told Lancaster
that "the White House cannot, as a practical matter, perform
across-the-board searches of computer files," because "the
burdens involved . . . are enormous," especially when the files
have been archived.
A deputy to Lancaster replied that they would be satisfied for
the present with a computer file search of just two former White
House aides.
Kennedy said limited searches like that were made for other
independent counsels as well, but not very often.
But despite Kennedy's assurance that "everyone [who issues
subpoenas] understands" the situation, the chief counsel for the
House Government Reform Committee, James Wilson, said he had no
such understanding. He said he would not fault the White House
for not examining the voluminous backup tapes, but he could find
"no record of the White House ever telling us it wasn't going to
search individual hard drives."
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
####
P.S. If you are interested in a FREE high-speed DSL internet
service provider, and/or a FREE $200 DSL modem, then register AND
DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE (i.e., registration alone WON'T GET IT
DONE) at:
http://i.winfire.com/s/isapiEng.dll/wf.exe?cmd=rl&508,120031685&wf.exe
OH, and you've only got till the 30th of this month to get it
done.
=================================================================
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 unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid
matters
and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
<A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
