| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: WoT | |
| Controversial ex-CIA director named to spy panel | |
| 2009-02-06 | |
WASHINGTON (AP) — National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair has asked former CIA Director John Deutch, who was stripped of his security clearance nearly a decade ago for mishandling classified information, to sit on an advisory panel on spy satellites, a lawmaker said Thursday.
Deutch was stripped of his security clearances by CIA Director George Tenet in 1999. As a former deputy defense secretary, Deutch also had Pentagon clearances, but he voluntarily gave them up. He had agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government secrets, but President Clinton pardoned him shortly before leaving office in January 2001 and before the Justice Department could file the case against him. CIA Director Mike Hayden reinstated clearances for Deutch in 2007 so Hayden could consult with him, as well as with other ex-CIA directors, agency spokesman Mark Mansfield said Thursday. Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee raised concerns about the appointment at the confirmation hearing Thursday of Leon Panetta to become CIA director. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., asked Panetta whether he was aware that Deutch had been asked to sit on an advisory panel that will make recommendations about the future of U.S. spy satellites. Panetta said no. "Do you think that's appropriate?" Coburn asked. "I think I'd have to sit down and talk with Adm. Blair about just exactly what he had in mind," Panetta responded. "What kind of message do you think that appointment sends the men and women of the CIA, who work every day to collect and protect the most sensitive" information? Coburn asked. Panetta said he "did not want to jump to any quick conclusions about what the admiral may or may not had in mind. Clearly this is something I need to talk to him about." A spokeswoman for Blair, Wendy Morigi, said Blair "is seeking to benefit from the technical expertise of some national experts, and Mr. Deutch is among those who will be called on from time to time." She said Blair will be consulting with Congress as he continues to recruit panel members and promised to address their concerns. Panetta later said preventing leaks of classified information can be difficult to do but that he would work with the attorney general to ensure cases don't "fall into a black hole." "I consider leaking, particularly where it involves secrets that are important to this country, treasonous, and I think they have to be prosecuted," he said. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 Can't be any worse... The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus says that for every depth, there is one still lower. Ima feeling it's a long way to the bottom. Hang on tight and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-02-06 14:26 |
| #5 Can't be any worse than having a Treasury Secretary who forgets to pay his income taxes. Can it? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-02-06 14:20 |
| #4 How long before we hear from Sandy "There's a Top Secret Party In My Pants" Berger? |
| Posted by: charger 2009-02-06 13:07 |
| #3 > Deutch, CIA director from May 1995 to December 1996 in the Clinton administration, stored and processed hundreds of files of highly classified material on unprotected home computers that he and family members also used to connect to the Internet Absolutely unforgivable! My mouth was open, jaw dropped when I read this. I agree, nearly. The fact is that at these times security consciousness about the internet (who was just starting a commercial place) was still about zero between the general public. Outside computer specialists few people knew about firewalls and similar. Windows 95 came without any firewall if my memory is any good. We are allowed to expect that computer people in CIA lectured people about security but in those times before laptops, USB keys and ubiquitous internet connections it is not sure. If they did, he should have been sanctioned much more severely than loding his security clearance. If they didn't the computer people should have been tarred, feathered and shot. |
| Posted by: JFM 2009-02-06 10:36 |
| #2 > Deutch, CIA director from May 1995 to December 1996 in the Clinton administration, stored and processed hundreds of files of highly classified material on unprotected home computers that he and family members also used to connect to the Internet Absolutely unforgivable! My mouth was open, jaw dropped when I read this. There's "honest mistake", but this is wilfully ignoring risks. He shouldn't be allowed to read a press release let alone be invited back. Please accept my best wishes on America surviving the Chicago Political "Machine". |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-02-06 08:42 |
| #1 Lefties: National security is a joke, anyway. Classified information would be better if everyone in the world could see it. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-06 03:25 |