The Clinton legal war is failing. The president and his Interior
Secretary have both been cited in “contempt” of Federal Court. Former
DNC fundraiser and secret cleared Commerce employee, John Huang cited
his “Fifth” Amendment rights, refusing to testify before Larry Klayman
of Judicial Watch.
However, Mr. Clinton now faces a new scandal — registered foreign
agents in secret meetings at the White House on super-computers for
Russian nuclear weapons labs. The new scandal is quaintly dubbed
“Computer-Gate.”
In 1994, a consortium of U.S. computer companies, the Computer
Systems Policy Project (CSPP) was represented by Tony Podesta, brother
of White House official John Podesta. Tony Podesta obtained special
powers for his CSPP U.S. computer CEOs. They were allowed to attend
secret meetings inside the White House. The meetings were on computer
hardware and software exports to China and Russia.
The CSPP is a group of computer companies, that in 1995 included
Apple, AT&T, Compaq, Cray, Data General, Digital Equipment,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Silicon Graphics, Stratus Computer, Sun
Microsystems, Tandem and Unisys.
One key Commerce Department document described a 1995 closed meeting
in the White House that included CEOs from the CSPP companies and two
DNC donors: Ken Kay, a Podesta Associates employee and Charles Levy, an
employee of the lobby firm Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Most of the
documentation on this and several more CSPP secret meetings inside the
White House are being withheld as classified by the Commerce Department.
The secret CSPP/White House meetings included registered foreign
agents. In 1994 and 1995, CSPP Director and DNC donor Ken Kay was an
employee of Podesta Associates. According to the February 1994
Department of Justice Foreign agent index, Tony Podesta and Podesta
Associates registered as an “agent” of a unspecified foreign nation. In
fact, Podesta Associates also registered a second time in April 1994 as
a “foreign agent” for a company located in Chile.
In addition, according to the Department of Justice 1995 Foreign
agent index, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering was also registered as a
“foreign agent.” In 1995, Charles Levy, CSPP lawyer, DNC donor and
employee of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering attended the secret meeting at
the White House. At the same time their employee was in the White House,
the powerful law firm also represented a bank in Bermuda, the Banking
Federation of the European Union and the Swiss Bankers Association.
Under the Clinton administration, registered foreign agents obtained
secrets that cannot be revealed to the American public. What kind of
secrets?
According to a May 1995 CSPP letter to Ron Brown “all references and
terminology in the U.S. export regulation … should be eliminated,
including all references to ‘supercomputers’ and ‘statement on security
procedures.'”
Another clue is a November 1995 CSPP letter to Ron Brown that states
“we want to express our great appreciation for your role in the
President’s recent decision to significantly reform computer export
controls.”
Within weeks of the November 1995 CSPP thank-you to Ron Brown,
Russian and Chinese weapons labs bought CSPP computers for nuclear
weapons research.
In April 1999, this reporter filed suit against the Commerce
Department, seeking documents on the Computer Systems Policy Project
(CSPP). The suit, 3:99cv280, is expected to be reviewed by Richmond
District Federal Judge Richard Williams.
The FOIA lawsuit includes some 27 examples supporting the claim that
the Clinton administration is illegally withholding responsive
documents. Of the 27 examples, 26 are from the White House, the CSPP,
Commerce, Podesta Associates and the powerful law firm of Wilmer,
Cutler, and Pickering.
Even more astonishing, according to the Commerce Department, neither
John nor Tony Podesta exist. In March 1999, Commerce replied to twin
Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests on John Podesta and his brother
Tony Podesta. The official Commerce response claims for the Podesta
brothers is that an “extensive search” produced “no” responsive
documents.
Obviously, the Commerce Department reply is false. John Podesta has
held various positions inside the White House since January 1993 and
openly met with Commerce officials. The Commerce Department has
previously supplied this reporter several documents involving Commerce
officials and White House advisor John Podesta.
For example, one document is a 1993 letter from Trusted Information
Systems (TIS) President Stephen T. Walker. The letter was returned from
the files of Ron Brown by Commerce in response to a FOIA on Clinton
computer security policy. The TIS CEO letter is addressed to the
Commerce Dept. Director, at the NIST (National Institute for Standards
and Technology) Computer Systems Laboratory and “cc’d” to “John
Podesta.”
In fact, hand written notes on the 1993 TIS letter were withheld
(blacked-out) by the Commerce Department.
More alarming for the White House is another 1994 computer security
document found in the files of former Deputy Attorney General Webster
Hubbell. The Hubbell document describes a secret 1994 White House
meeting where “Podesta legislation” was one of several computer industry
topics.
The Hubbell document clearly links the former Whitewater partner and
John Podesta in secret computer export policy. Al Gore, Webster Hubbell,
John Podesta, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Ron Brown attended the 1994
White House meeting. Secret meetings that include a convicted felon and
the former member of the Rose office law firm of Hillary Clinton.
Computer-Gate involves serving officials inside the Clinton
administration other than John Podesta and Webster Hubbell. Other
Clinton officials such as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and Commerce
undersecretary for Export Administration, William Reinsch, were both
involved in CSPP meetings that are now classified.
Computer-Gate also includes some of the most rich and powerful in the
U.S. computer industry DNC donor lists. The 1995 secret meeting included
James Unruh of Unisys, Michael Spindler of Apple, Robert Allen of AT&T,
Eckhard Pfeiffer of Compaq, John
Carlson of Cray, Ronald Skates of Data General, Robert Palmer of Digital
Equipment, Lewis Platt of Hewlett-Packard, Edward McCraken of Silcon
Graphics, William Foster of Straus Computer, and Scott McNeally of Sun.
The Computer-Gate legal battles for Clinton have just begun. The FOIA
lawsuit for Computer-Gate includes a request to bring in all the
witnesses for testimony under oath. The request includes Commerce, White
House and CSPP officials such as the computer company executives who
attended the secret meetings.
Yet, there is another legal D-Day that is quickly approaching for the
White House. Clinton faces another loss in the China-Gate scandal.
Friday, April 23, 1999, is the last day for the Commerce Department to
surrender documents on meetings with the Chinese Army, as per the order
issued by Federal Judge Robert Payne. At the date of this writing, no
such documentation has been turned over.
The Secretary of Commerce may wish to acquire a Federal contempt
order for refusing to turn over documents legally demanded by a Federal
Court order. It is quite possible that Commerce Secretary Daley would
rather be held in violation of the law rather than turn over the
incriminating documents. In fact, a contempt charge might be a badge of
honor for Secretary Daley, since both his commander and a fellow cabinet
member share such a charge.
No honest business will deal with a known criminal. In the world of
inter-national commerce, a Federal contempt charge against Secretary
Daley could taint the U.S. Department of “Commerce” into
self-destruction. The Commerce Dept. may yet become the first real
casualty of Mr. Clinton’s real war.
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