May 2, 2000
Memo told of e-mail problems
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
White House officials were told in February 1999 that e-mail
messages subpoenaed by a federal grand jury and three
congressional committees had not been turned over because of a
computer glitch, but opted to "let sleeping dogs lie" by not
telling anyone about the problem.
A Feb. 5, 1999, White House memo by Karl H. Heissner, an
official in the Office of Administration, detailed extensive
information about the computer problem that prevented e-mail
messages from being retrieved and revealed that the White House
knew the glitch had affected their obligation to preserve
presidential records.
The memo had been prepared as a briefing paper for White
House officials scheduled to testify before Congress.
"Records management, mandated by law, requires among other
things that incoming and outgoing e-mail meeting certain criteria
to be considered federal records be archived for future
retrieval," the memo said, noting that "several months went by"
before any corrections were made.
In his memo, written to fellow Office of Administration
employee Dorothy E. Cleal, Mr. Heissner suggested he was
reluctant to tell Congress about the status of official document
requests to the White House both from lawmakers and "litigants
against the government" because White House statistics showed
that such requests were on the decline.
"We did not want to call attention to the issue by bringing
the issue to the attention of Congress because last year's hours
consumed by . . . staff amounts to only a little over 500, this
year's hours consumed so far amounts to only 65, and the level of
requests appears to be declining," the memo said.
For emphasis, Mr. Heissner added: "Let sleeping dogs lie."
Mr. Kennedy told reporters Sunday that Mr. Heissner's memo
showed that presidential aides never intended to hide the problem
and were prepared to answer questions about it.
"We have seen no documents that in any way suggest that the
e-mail problem was hidden from Congress," he said.
The memo, first reported by the Associated Press, disclosed
that the White House solicited a bid in October 1998 from
government contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. � which had
discovered the glitch � to retrieve the uncollected e-mail
messages at a cost of about $600,000.
Although the Heissner memo specifically outlined the
computer glitch and presented Northrop Grumman's proposal to fix
it, no action was taken until this year �after The Washington
Times reported in February that the e-mail messages were missing
and the White House had threatened Northrop Grumman employees if
they told anyone about the missing documents.
Mr. Heissner is scheduled to testify tomorrow before the
House Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the
missing White House e-mail messages. Another witness will be
Michael Lyle, director of the White House Office of
Administration.
Meanwhile, the committee yesterday criticized the White
House for withholding documents the panel had sought concerning
e-mail messages to Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern
with whom President Clinton has admitted having a sexual
relationship.
The White House claimed the e-mail messages were subject to
privilege and did not relate to the committee's ongoing
investigation of the computer glitch. White House Associate
Counsel Dimitri J. Nionakis told the committee in a letter Friday
that a subpoena for the Lewinsky e-mail messages was an
unwarranted expansion of the committee's investigation.
James Wilson, the panel's general counsel, wrote yesterday
to Mr. Nionakis that the White House was stonewalling efforts to
obtain the documents and that his "meaningless legal mumbo-jumbo
is obviously a transparent ploy to provoke wasteful and
time-consuming squabbles over documents."
"The committee cannot rely on the word of White House
lawyers, who themselves are under investigation by the Justice
Department, to determine whether a good-faith effort was made to
determine whether the White House had an ongoing problem that
either had to be fixed or, at a minimum, disclosed to Congress,"
Mr. Wilson said.
A White House spokesman, Jim Kennedy, denied any bad faith.
"We have already turned over a lot of material to [Committee
Chairman Dan] Burton," he said. "What he is seeking is not
historical information about the origins of this problem but
current information generated only as a result of his inquiry."
Mr. Kennedy added that the White House "would like to reach
an accommodation with the committee to provide them with what
they legitimately need in a way that doesn't interfere with our
ability to do our job."
The Justice Department announced last month it was
investigating accusations the White House hid e-mail messages
subpoenaed by the campaign finance task force after threatening
contract workers with jail if they didn't keep the documents
secret.
Robert J. Conrad Jr., head of the department's campaign
finance task force, told a federal court investigators want to
know if subpoenas issued by his office for the e-mail messages
were "fully complied with."
He also said the probe would focus on accusations Northrop
Grumman employees working on the White House computer system were
"threatened with retaliation" to keep the messages from being
turned over.
Mr. Conrad told the U.S. District Court in Washington the
task force had learned the White House's e-mail management system
had "for some period of time" failed to collect incoming
electronic messages sent to several officials, some of which may
have included "communications related to various criminal
investigations."
Sheryl L. Hall, chief of White House computer operations,
has said the missing messages involved Miss Lewinsky; the White
House's receipt of secret FBI files; information on the selection
of corporate executives for overseas trade trips; and campaign
finance activities in the 1996 election.
The missing e-mail messages were discovered when Northrop
Grumman found that one of the four White House Lotus Notes e-mail
servers handling the mail was mislabeled and a search of e-mail
messages under subpoena was incomplete.
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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.
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