Report Finds Republican Aides Spied on Democrats
By NEIL A. LEWIS
March 5, 2004
nytimes.com
WASHINGTON, March 4 — For 18 months, at least two Republican Senate staff aides engaged in unauthorized and possibly illegal spying by reading Democratic strategy memorandums on a Senate computer system, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate sergeant-at-arms.
The 65-page report concluded that the two Republican staff aides, both of whom have since departed, improperly read, downloaded and printed as many as 4,670 files concerning the Democrats' tactics in opposing many of President Bush's judicial nominees. The report, the result of an investigation undertaken at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that many other Republican staff aides may have been involved in trafficking in the stolen documents.
"I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files occurred," Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters. "There is no excuse that can justify these improper actions."
Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee's ranking Democrat, said, "This report indisputably shows that this secret surveillance was calculated, systematic and sweeping in its scope."
He added, "It is not difficult to conclude that this was criminal behavior."
The report was supposed to be released with the names of the individuals involved redacted. But a copy was mistakenly released with the names included. The report identified the two former Republican staff aides as Manuel C. Miranda, who had already been named as a central figure in the investigation, and Jason Lundell, whose name had not previously been known.
Investigators said an inexperienced computer coordinator did not make files properly inaccessible; Mr. Lundell observed the coordinator opening files with a few key strokes, the report said, and then copied what he had done.
For the next 18 months, according to the report, Mr. Lundell supplied documents to Mr. Miranda after gaining access to the files of staff aides for Senators Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, Dianne Feinstein of California, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin and Mr. Leahy. The largest number of files came from Senator Durbin's office.
Some information sought by Mr. Miranda and provided by Mr. Lundell, according to the report, was about how Democrats would question some nominees. Mr. Leahy wrote to Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, asking if his office received any of the stolen information.
In response, Mr. Gonzales offered a denial that was less than categorical, saying: "I am not aware of any credible allegation of White House involvement in this matter. Consequently, there has been no White House investigation or effort to determine whether anyone at the White House was aware of or involved in these activities."
In a statement issued Thursday night, Mr. Miranda, who had been a senior counsel to Mr. Hatch and to Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said, "The report draws conclusions or observations that are ludicrous and easily placed into context."
He said that it was fundamentally wrong to consider the Democratic strategy documents as confidential, because they were easily accessible.
In an interview, Mr. Miranda said that the report did, however, confirm his contention that there was no "hacking," by which he meant that no security walls that needed passwords had been breached.
Mr. Lundell was described in the report as a young and curious clerk who was eager to impress his superiors. The report said that he freely admitted to Senator Hatch and investigators his role in the matter and had left Washington to attend graduate school in accounting in Texas. His whereabouts could not be determined.
The report named four other Republican staff aides who might have read the documents but did not fully cooperate with investigators.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said he believed that an independent counsel with subpoena power should be named by the Justice Department to investigate whether any crimes were committed.
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