DATE=2/8/2000 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP TITLE=A NEW SCANDAL HITS THE C-I-A NUMBER=6-11672 BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= INTRO: Revelations that a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency took home top-secret information and placed it on his unsecured home computer are causing embarrassment at the highest levels of the U-S government. The nation's daily newspapers have taken up the hue and cry, wondering what ex-C-I-A boss John Deutch could have been thinking. Editorial columns are already expressing numerous opinions, mostly unfavorable, and an investigation is underway. We get a sampling of the comment now from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup. TEXT: The New York Times reports that former C-I-A Director John Deutch possibly compromised some of this country's top intelligence information. The paper explains that during his tenure as head of the spy agency, four years ago, Mr. Deutch loaded highly- classified information from his agency computer onto his home computers, without authorization. The problem is that once he had contacted the Internet, the worldwide computer network of information sharing, enemy experts could have entered his home computers and stolen the information. It was also disclosed that during this period, about four years ago, someone at Mr. Deutch's home was also using the computers to view pornography, possibly making him even more vulnerable to enemy influence. The current C-I-A Director, George Tenet has revoked Mr. Deutch's C-I-A security clearance and his Defense Department credentials were put under review. Now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [M-I-T], Mr. Deutch also has been working as a consultant on defense and intelligence matters. He said today [Tuesday] he has not been using his Defense Department security clearances, and he asked the government to discontinue them. We begin our sampling in South Carolina, where Charleston's Post and Courier calls the incident "a shocking lapse of security." VOICE: Former C-I-A Director John Deutch and his successor, George Tenet, should be called on the carpet [disciplined] by Congress: Mr. Deutch to explain why he violated elementary security precautions in handling highly- sensitive secrets, and Mr. Tenet to explain why he let his predecessor off so lightly for this lapse. The more we learn about it, the more the Deutch case appears to have the familiar hallmarks of the old-boy network at work. // OPT // The C-I-A became aware in 1996 that its director violated security regulations by working at home ... on an Internet-connected computer accessible by anyone with the necessary knowledge. But it took no action until 1999, when it suspended his security clearances. Despite this action, the Pentagon continues to allow Mr. Deutch to work as a consultant on classified weapons projects, The Washington Post reports. // END OPT // ... The nation will probably never know whether Mr. Deutch, through his carelessness, contributed to the recent hemorrhage of national security secrets. ... Congress should demand a thorough explanation. TEXT: The San Francisco Examiner is one of several papers that says this action by Mr. Deutch is identical to what nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee is accused of at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. And it suggests Mr. Deutch's case will greatly hamper the government in obtaining a conviction in the trial against Mr. Lee. VOICE: Wen Ho Lee is not thanking his lucky stars as he sits in jail charged with mishandling computerized nuclear secrets. ... But he may be the lucky beneficiary of a "they- all-do-it" defense in the further revelations of C-I-A laxity toward a blatant security lapse by former Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch. ... The internal investigation of [Mr.] Deutch began as he was leaving office ... when C-I-A security experts discovered he had put large amounts of secret material on ... home computers that were also used to access the Internet (including porn sites) along with millions of other American Online customers. ...[Director] Tenet now claims the affair shows the C-I-A can ... police itself. Tell that to Wen Ho Lee, who can't get bail because he is suspected of intent to give the nuclear weapons data to China, though he is not charged with espionage. TEXT: In Utah, Salt Lake City's Deseret [pron: `DEZZ- uh-`RETT] News is also pretty upset at both the agency and its former director. VOICE: Four years ago, the C-I-A was in trouble. Its critics called it arrogant, parochial and out of control. ... It was against this backdrop than then-C-I-A director John Deutch was loading up his home computer with top-secret information and surfing the Internet. Since news of this broke last week, few people have sought to ascribe sinister motives to the former director. Unfortunately for him, the only other motive available is stupidity. ... In almost any other line of work, an official could feign ignorance. ... But the head of the C-I-A has no such excuse. His is a business where carelessness costs lives. ... // OPT // The chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee thinks that's enough to warrant bringing [Mr.] Deutch in to explain under oath what happened. That sounds like a good next move. No one knows at this point whether any secrets were compromised, but the former director ought to explain why he was so careless. // END OPT // TEXT: In the Midwest, The [Cleveland, Ohio] Plain Dealer sounds equally exasperated as the other papers, trying to fathom the potential security lapse. VOICE: John Deutch, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, used to take his work home, as many executives do. But then he put it in computers that also were used to surf the Internet. So it's possible that some 17- thousand pages of Deutch's homework were consumed ... by the Bear -- as in Russia. Or China. Or any hacker clever enough to worm his way into [Mr.] Deutch's three Apples [Apple brand computers] ... What [Director] Deutch ... apparently did not know is, the Internet is a two-way street. Given the determination and the resources, anyone can write a program that will tiptoe into a computer through the open connection of an Internet service provider, tour the files, e-mail home what it wants, then erase itself and its footprints -- all unknown to the computer's owner. Did this happen? Nations that are capable of building electronic bugs into the woodwork of a State Department conference room [a reference to a recently- discovered Russian espionage action, including just such a hidden microphone] would find it a small challenge. TEXT: Lastly, The Washington Post is critical of the government, knowing what it did about Mr. Deutch, still allowing him to retain his potentially-lucrative Pentagon security clearance. (The editorial was published before Mr. Deutch voluntarily surrendered the last of his security clearances Tuesday.) VOICE: Presenting the handling of his case in public as a portrait of courageous leadership also seems dishonest. It sends a bad enough message to the many people responsible for protecting classified information -- all of whom are subject to stiff penalties for failing to be cautious -- when the Director of Central Intelligence has [stores] memos to the president detailing covert actions on a home computer that is used to surf the Internet. This message grows immeasurably worse when that person, even after his conduct is discovered, is permitted continued access to classified information in any form -- let alone in a form that enables consulting opportunities. Secrets are either important or they're not. Mr. Deutch has conceded that there's no excuse for his behavior. Why then has it been excused? TEXT: On that indignant note, we conclude this sampling of opinion on the recently-revealed security lapse attributed to the former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Deutch. NEB/ANG/WTW 08-Feb-2000 15:41 PM EDT (08-Feb-2000 2041 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .