HEY Charles! Remember my favorite bête noire?? Yeah... YOU'VE GUESSED IT: MOSSAD MEGA-mole Deutch's back in the spotlight....
(BTW, I couldn't have picked a better timing to drop that bombshell)
Report Blasts Deutch's Security Lapses
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
John M. Deutch, a former CIA director and top Pentagon official in the mid-1990s, committed a "particularly egregious" violation of security rules by using unsecured computers at home and in the office, the Defense Department's inspector general said in a final report made public yesterday.
"The evidence we obtained clearly establishes that Dr. Deutch failed to follow even the most basic security precautions," the report concluded.
While serving as an undersecretary of defense in 1993 and then as deputy secretary of defense until 1995--the second- and third-ranking civilian posts at the Pentagon, respectively--Deutch "declined departmental requests that he allow security systems to be installed at his residence," the report noted.
During that same period, it added, Deutch signed a memorandum to all Pentagon employees warning that only "properly reviewed and cleared" information should "be placed on electronic systems accessible to the public."
Deutch's security violations first came to light in late 1996, when he resigned as director of the CIA after being passed over for appointment as secretary of defense in the second Clinton administration.
CIA technicians who went to his home to take back computers owned by the agency discovered that he had written top-secret intelligence memos on unsecured machines that were linked to the Internet and theoretically were vulnerable to hackers.
That discovery led the Pentagon inspector general to review Deutch's tenure at the Defense Department, where investigators determined that he had committed similar security violations. The probes also led to a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, which is still underway.
As a result, yesterday's report said, Deutch declined to be interviewed by investigators "based on the advice of counsel."
A special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno has recommended Deutch be charged with violating security laws, but the matter is still under review, according to government sources.
The Pentagon investigation tracked down at least seven desktop and laptop computers that Deutch had used, several of which were later sold or donated to educational institutions. None was found to have classified materials stored in their memories. But a former aide told investigators that Deutch had used two portable computers to write a daily journal that contained classified information.
Because computers used for the journal also were at times hooked up to Deutch's AOL Internet account, the inspector general called Deutch's actions "extremely risky."
© 2000 The Washington Post
washingtonpost.com
HEY POLLARD, make room! Your case officer's coming..... |
