-Caveat Lector-
Deutch Had Signed Plea Agreement, Sources Say
By Bill Miller and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 24, 2001 ; Page A13
The night before he was pardoned by President Bill Clinton,
former CIA director John M. Deutch agreed in writing to plead
guilty to a misdemeanor charge for keeping classified information
on his home computers, according to authorities and documents.
Special prosecutor Paul E. Coffey, who negotiated the plea
agreement, was not consulted about the pardon and was taken by
surprise when it was announced, a law enforcement source said.
It is unclear whether Deutch requested clemency from Clinton, or
whether the former president simply took action on his own, as he
did with some of the other pardons he issued Saturday.
Deutch agreed Friday evening to plead guilty to a single charge
of unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or
material -- a misdemeanor. The plea agreement he signed was
contingent upon the judge accepting a sentence worked out by both
sides, which called for no prison time and a $5,000 fine, a law
enforcement source said.
Channing D. Phillips, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Wilma A.
Lewis, confirmed that prosecutors planned to file paperwork in
the case Monday, scheduling a court date for the expected guilty
plea.
But Clinton's pardon of Deutch rendered the issue moot.
Phillips declined further comment.
By Saturday, Clinton apparently was aware of the negotiated plea.
In his "executive grant of clemency" for Deutch, he made
reference to a legal document that is filed as a prelude to a
plea agreement.
Coffey did not return a telephone message left at his office
yesterday. Deutch's lawyer, Terrence O'Donnell, also did not
return calls.
Deutch was among 176 Americans who received pardons or
commutations of their sentences from Clinton on the morning that
he left office. Some of the pardons, such as the one for
fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich, have generated outrage
from prosecutors and others.
Following the practice of previous administrations in their
closing days, the White House handled the case of Deutch and
about two dozen others directly, instead of going through the
customary Justice Department screening process.
Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence and a former CIA operations
officer, said yesterday that Clinton's pardon of Deutch sent the
wrong message to the intelligence community about the importance
of safeguarding classified information.
"I don't think he deserves to be let off the hook for what he
did," Goss said, adding it smacked of "taking care of the
buddies."
Goss said he would oppose any move by the CIA or the Defense
Department to restore Deutch's security clearances. "As long as
I'm chairman of the intelligence committee, [the pardon] won't
make any difference at all," Goss said.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, agreed that the Deutch pardon "sends
the wrong message everywhere. The director of the CIA should be
beyond reproach."
Deutch's security violations came to light in late 1996, after he
resigned as CIA director. CIA security officials subsequently
discovered that he had written and stored hundreds of highly
classified intelligence reports on unsecure home computers linked
to the Internet.
The Justice Department initially declined to prosecute Deutch and
four months later, in August 1999, Tenet stripped him of his CIA
security clearances. But in February 2000, amid congressional
demands that the case be reopened, then-Attorney General Janet
Reno appointed Coffey as a special prosecutor to investigate
Deutch's actions.
At that time, Deutch also was under investigation for security
violations that stemmed from his tenure at the Defense
Department, where he worked before the CIA.
Coffey recommended to Reno that charges be filed. For months,
Deutch refused to negotiate with prosecutors, but as Clinton's
term drew to a close plea discussions began and took on a sense
of urgency. Deutch's lawyer hoped to strike a plea deal while
Reno was still in office because a Bush administration attorney
general might press for more serious felony charges, people
familiar with the discussions said.
Although Clinton's exact reasons for pardoning Deutch are not
known, individuals in the White House believed, according to
White House sources, that the former CIA director was "overly
pursued" by the FBI and later the Justice Department after his
situation was compared to that of former Los Alamos National
Laboratory physicist Wen Ho Lee. A 59-count felony indictment
was filed against Lee for allegedly downloading nuclear secrets.
Lee ultimately pleaded guilty in September to a single felony
count of mishandling classified information.
Prosecutors had planned to file what is known as a "criminal
information" on Monday, a legal document that spells out the
charges and can be submitted to the court only with the consent
of both parties. A judge then would have set a date for a plea.
Staff writer Vernon Loeb contributed to this report.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
=================================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
