-Caveat Lector-
Ex-CIA chief compromised secrets
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Former CIA Director John Deutch compromised some of the most
sensitive defense programs by improperly transferring data about
ultrasecret Pentagon programs to computers he used to send e-mail
and access the Internet, The Washington Times has learned. Top
Stories
The compromises occurred sometime after 1994 and have raised
fears among Pentagon security officials that foreign governments
obtained access to the "crown jewels" of the Pentagon's secret
weapons, intelligence and military programs, according to defense
officials.
Mr. Deutch is suspected of using the Internet to send the
secret information on so-called special access programs (SAPs)
over the commercial Internet service provider America Online as
part of a 1,000-page personal journal he produced during his
tenure as deputy defense secretary from 1994 to 1995 when he also
was director of the Pentagon's Special Access Program Oversight
Committee (SAPOC).
As the head of SAPOC, Mr. Deutch sat at the pinnacle of the
defense secrecy system involving hundreds of special access
programs and ultrasensitive information ranging from exotic
weapons development to secrets used during war-fighting
operations.
The officials provided new details of the compromised programs
to highlight what they say is an effort to cover up the security
breaches to avoid the political embarrassment for a high-ranking
Clinton administration official during the presidential-election
campaign.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has completed a report on
the CIA's handling of the Deutch security breach, but release of
the report is being delayed by Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan
Democrat, who is challenging its findings, according to
congressional sources.
The Pentagon officials said the compromises are based on a
"worst case" estimate that information requiring extraordinary
secrecy has been released improperly or gathered clandestinely by
foreign spies.
"We don't know the full extent," said one official. "But
until we do, you have to assume there were serious compromises."
A second defense official said: "A security and
counterintelligence investigation is needed to determine where is
the information, and a damage assessment is needed to determine
what has been compromised."
Officials said the case is potentially the most damaging
security breach in the Pentagon's history because of the secrets
involved.
For example, special access programs include vital defense
information used during wartime. During the Persian Gulf war, one
special access program was set up to protect information about a
flaw in a foreign-built radar system used by the Iraqi military,
which provided a major advantage to U.S. allied military forces
during the conflict.
The officials said the compromises are not being investigated
by security and counterintelligence officials at the Pentagon or
the FBI.
The failure to aggressively pursue the security breaches has
led some officials to question whether the matter is being
covered up by the Pentagon in order to protect Mr. Deutch, who
became CIA director in 1995 and left after being passed over for
a senior post in the second Clinton administration in 1996.
Pentagon spokesmen have said a damage assessment is under way
but that it has been stymied by Mr. Deutch's refusal to cooperate
in turning over computer disks.
Spokesman Kenneth Bacon said no one in the Pentagon has
covered up the security breaches by Mr. Deutch.
Officials do not know why Mr. Deutch produced the secret
personal journal.
However, the biggest fear is that Mr. Deutch has used the
information with his international consulting firm, or will do so
in the future.
Mr. Deutch is currently a co-chairman of the advisory council
for Intellibridge Corp., a District of Columbia-based global
intelligence and information service for corporations. The
company was originally called Newmarket. The board co-chairman is
former White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake. Other
board members include former high-ranking U.S. and foreign
government officials.
The Intellibridge Internet site states that the company "is
a strategic knowledge tool providing a total information and
intelligence solution for the international corporation." A
spokesman for the company confirmed Mr. Deutch is on the
advisory board.
Pentagon documents obtained by The Times show the Pentagon
waited 20 months until February 2000 before initiating an inquiry
into the security breach. The Pentagon was first informed in June
1998 by CIA investigators that special access program data was
found on Mr. Deutch's unsecured computers, the documents state.
A draft Pentagon inspector-general report on the Deutch matter
also said that Mr. Deutch used seven U.S. government-owned
Macintosh computers to write "a journal that contained classified
information on unclassified computers both at his residence and
his office."
Some of the computers "were used by Dr. Deutch and his
family to access his [America Online] account," the report said.
The documents were first disclosed by National Journal
magazine.
As for his use of America Online and the Internet, the
report stated that "using computers in this manner was extremely
risky in that a computer 'hacker' could have gained on-line
access to Dr. Deutch's computer and the information stored in
temporary files on the hard drive, including the journal."
Mr. Deutch could not be reached for comment and his attorney,
Terry O'Donnell, did not return telephone calls.
According to a 1998 Pentagon memorandum, Mark W. Spaulding,
who investigated Mr. Deutch for the Pentagon, said after a CIA
briefing on the case that Mr. Deutch's unsecured computers "were
regularly used in connection with his AOL account and thus may
have been used to transfer such information without regard to
proper security procedures."
The information contained in the personal journal included
"Top Secret and Top Secret Compartmented, as well as DOD Special
Access Program information," Mr. Spaulding wrote.
According to Pentagon spokesmen, the current investigations
are limited to a review of information involved in the case and
an inspector general inquiry of computers and storage media.
Pentagon spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters on
Tuesday that key information contained on the computer diskettes
held by Mr. Deutch has "not been recovered."
Asked later if the information was transmitted over the
Internet, Adm. Quigley said officials suspect it was.
As for security compromises, Adm. Quigley said: "Well, it's
something, I guess . . . that you never know until you have it."
However, another defense official stated flatly: "The
[special access] programs are compromised. The only question is
whether foreign intelligence services have the information or
will get it."
The officials said Mr. Deutch would type notes into an
unsecured laptop computer after secret briefings on various
special access programs he was overseeing at the director of
SAPOC.
Officials believe Mr. Deutch then sent e-mail copies of the
notes to himself and later retrieved them using computers at his
home.
"We know that foreign intelligence services routinely
monitor the Internet for just such material," the defense
official said. "And AOL is a major target."
In particular, Russia's electronic eavesdropping service
monitors all electronic messages sent through Internet servers in
Russia. China's intelligence services have similar filters that
are used to monitor Internet message traffic.
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