-Caveat Lector-
August 21, 2001
FBI agents urge more scrutiny for Condit
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
FBI agents questioned yesterday why Rep. Gary A.Condit, who has
acknowledged having an affair with a Washington intern who has been missing
since early May, continues to receive highly classified intelligence data
as a member of a key House committee.
The agents, in letters to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, asked whether the
California Democrat had become a national security risk.
"The national security is indeed paramount when we consider necessary
measures to protect our intelligence secrets," the agents said in the
letters. "A careful balance must be engineered.
However it is only logical to insist that those with the broadest access to
the most sensitive information be subjected to the greatest scrutiny."
Mr. Condit has been a member of the House intelligence committee since 1999
and, as a result, has had access to highly classified intelligence data on
national security while his personal conduct has been challenged.
National security officials have begun to question whether Mr. Condit has
become a blackmail target of international spies and others because of his
access to national secrets.
Several have suggested that his access to the information be cut off until
questions about his relationship with the former intern, Chandra Levy, and
her whereabouts are resolved.
Members of Congress chosen by party leaders for the House and Senate
intelligence committees are exempt from the usual polygraphs and intrusive
questions wielded by executive branch investigators.
The letters were forwarded to Congress by members of the FBI Agents
Association, which has been critical of efforts to force widespread
polygraph screening of FBI employees.
Many rank-and-file agents believe that widespread polygraph testing carries
a substantial risk of what they have described as "irreparable harm" to
innocent employees.
Calls for increased polygraph testing came from members of Congress and
elsewhere after the arrest of FBI Agent Robert P. Hanssen as a Russian spy.
The FBI has since ordered the tests for agents and bureau executives who
have access to confidential intelligence information.
The agents, in the letters, said Senate and House intelligence committee
members and their staffs have "substantially greater access to extremely
sensitive, classified intelligence information which contrasts strikingly
with all but the access of the top echelon of FBI executives."
"Most FBI special agents have little or no routine access to classified
information," the agents noted. "Many have greatly restricted,
compartmentalized exposure to specific intelligence programs or operations.
All have undergone thorough security background investigations, up-dated at
5-year intervals."
The agents said the security background checks for FBI agents contrast with
Senate and House procedures and suggested that the intelligence committee
members and their staffs be required to undergo thorough background
investigations and periodic polygraphs as a condition of service.
"What are the possible objections to such procedures given the tremendous
amount and sensitivity of the information to which you and your staff have
access?" the agents asked.
Mr. Condit, 53, who has told police that he had an affair with the missing
24-year-old former intern, was named to the intelligence committee by House
Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, Missouri Democrat.
When asked over the weekend on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether Mr. Condit
should step down from the intelligence panel, Mr. Gephardt said:
"I don't think we ought to rush to judgment on this case. There have been
a lot of facts come out, and then some had to be retracted. We have a
legal process in the country and in the House when people are accused of
wrongdoing. The first thing you presume is that they're innocent until
proven guilty. And then you let the process work to find out what happened
and what didn't happen."
Miss Levy, a former intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, has not been
seen since April 30, when she canceled her membership at a gym near her
Washington apartment. She spent several hours in her apartment the next
day, using her computer to look at Web sites about news, travel and a
congressional committee on which Mr. Condit served.
Mr. Condit, has denied through spokesmen that he knows anything about Miss
Levy's disappearance, and the D.C. Metropolitan Police have steadfastly
said he is not a suspect in their ongoing investigation.
The seven-term Democrat has not yet spoken publicly about Miss Levy's
disappearance, but announced yesterday that he will give his first
interview since the former intern vanished.
The interview with ABC News correspondent Connie Chung will be taped for
air Thursday night, said Condit aide Michael Dayton. Mrs. Chung will talk
to the congressman from his district in Modesto, Calif.
Mrs. Chung won a furious behind-the-scenes competition for the interview,
considered the biggest "get" in television news since her ABC colleague
Barbara Walters interviewed Monica Lewinsky.
Mr. Condit's political consultant, Richie Ross, did not immediately return
a telephone call seeking comment.
Mr. Condit has been planning his strategy, even while hunkered down in his
California home, with a barrier of campers and pickup trucks parked outside
to shield against television cameras. He also is expected to send a letter
to his constituents outlining his plans.
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
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The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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