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Controversial ex-CIA director named to spy panel
WASHINGTON (AP) National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair has asked former CIA Director John Deutch, who was stripped of his security clearance nearly a decade ago for mishandling classified information, to sit on an advisory panel on spy satellites, a lawmaker said Thursday.
Deutch was stripped of his security clearances by CIA Director George Tenet in 1999. As a former deputy defense secretary, Deutch also had Pentagon clearances, but he voluntarily gave them up. He had agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling government secrets, but President Clinton pardoned him shortly before leaving office in January 2001 and before the Justice Department could file the case against him. CIA Director Mike Hayden reinstated clearances for Deutch in 2007 so Hayden could consult with him, as well as with other ex-CIA directors, agency spokesman Mark Mansfield said Thursday. Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee raised concerns about the appointment at the confirmation hearing Thursday of Leon Panetta to become CIA director. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., asked Panetta whether he was aware that Deutch had been asked to sit on an advisory panel that will make recommendations about the future of U.S. spy satellites. Panetta said no. "Do you think that's appropriate?" Coburn asked. "I think I'd have to sit down and talk with Adm. Blair about just exactly what he had in mind," Panetta responded. "What kind of message do you think that appointment sends the men and women of the CIA, who work every day to collect and protect the most sensitive" information? Coburn asked. Panetta said he "did not want to jump to any quick conclusions about what the admiral may or may not had in mind. Clearly this is something I need to talk to him about." A spokeswoman for Blair, Wendy Morigi, said Blair "is seeking to benefit from the technical expertise of some national experts, and Mr. Deutch is among those who will be called on from time to time." She said Blair will be consulting with Congress as he continues to recruit panel members and promised to address their concerns. Panetta later said preventing leaks of classified information can be difficult to do but that he would work with the attorney general to ensure cases don't "fall into a black hole." "I consider leaking, particularly where it involves secrets that are important to this country, treasonous, and I think they have to be prosecuted," he said. Posted by: Steve White 2009-02-06 |
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