The Clinton administration has delivered a complete listing of secret CHINA-GATE documents in a Federal Court case in Richmond, Virginia. However, the production of the secret list has confirmed that the Commerce Dept. is also withholding a document that has already been publicly released. On May 10, 1999, the DOJ attorney representing the Commerce Dept. delivered a motion containing a complete explanation of the materials that are being withheld. In one case, the Commerce Dept. is claiming that "FIVE-pages questions and answers" from the Dept. of Defense must remain classified. "13. Five-page questions and answers regarding Hua Mei - no date Originating agency: Department of Defense (E44-E47). Exemptions: (b)(5). This document is being withheld under (b)(5) because was originated by the Department of Defense as part of the process of deciding how to respond to allegations about an export to China... As there is nothing on the document that indicates it was actually used for public discussions, its release would harm the decision making process by discouraging the full consideration of facts to decision makers." Clearly, the Commerce Dept. did not inspect the SOFTWAR lawsuit submitted in 1998. Not only was this document released to SOFTWAR in full in 1998 - The entire DOD document was provided by this reporter as evidence to the Court in the original lawsuit filed in November, 1998! In fact, the entire Dept. of Defense document has been on the SOFTWAR internet web site since September 1998 and is fully available for public viewing (http://www.softwar.net/dod.html). The evidence consists of a cover letter from the Deputy Secretary of Defense dated Jan.29, 1996, FIVE-pages of questions and answers, and a three page attachment. The entire nine (9) page document, including the "FIVE" pages the Commerce Dept. is currently withholding, was returned in response to a FOIA against the Commerce Dept. in 1998. This reporter is now certain the Judge is viewing only five pages of a nine page DOD report behind closed doors. The Commerce Dept. could not find the cover page and the 3 pages of attachments previously returned in 1998. Thus, four pages are missing. In response, this reporter submitted a motion for the Judge, including the entire nine page DOD document in question as evidence. The response motion also included a single page letter from the Dept. of Defense FOIA officer that states the DOD document was found at the Commerce Dept. in response to a FOIA request from SOFTWAR. SOFTWAR has asked the Court to order the Commerce Dept. to re-execute a full and complete search of their records - if necessary - by using another agency of the United States Government (e.g. Defense Dept., FBI, or the General Accounting Office). The Commerce Dept. delivered to the Court an incomplete version of the DOD document, demonstrating they performed an incomplete search. The Commerce Dept. withheld a document that has been previously released, demonstrating that they are unable to perform a proper search. Finally, the Commerce Dept. withheld a document supplied by this reporter as evidence to the Court, demonstrating that they are unable to determine what material should or should not be withheld. Clearly, the Clinton administration could not hit the broad side of a barn with a B-2. The Commerce Dept. misfire of trying to declare a publicly available document as secret is the legal equal of "friendly fire". The fact that the same document was submitted as evidence not only adds insult to injury - it shows the same SNAFU driven administration that "pickled" the Chinese Embassy with bombs just blew its own foot off by not bothering to read what was in front of them the whole time. ================================================================ List/desc of secret documents http://www.softwar.net/prcx.html ================================================================ 1 if by land, 2 if by sea. Paul Revere - encryption 1775 Charles R. Smith SOFTWAR http://www.softwar.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pcyphered SIGNATURE: D51B261380B5E8B59E40953856C76920C0E8A7ABA0C0614065453F220417476E 700F1D92B9D3F38FC5FB5ECC63D0AB5907F8971B57CF4A766B3001BF4DA9BB7B 72B4EE248BDADFA9 ================================================================ SOFTWAR EMAIL NEWSLETTER 05/14/99 *** to unsubscribe reply with "unsubscribe" as subject *** ================================================================
