No Reluctance on Part of DoD Investigator in Deutch Case

By Staff Sgt. Kathleen T. Rhem, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2000 -- DoD leaders weren't reluctant to
investigate former Deputy Secretary John Deutch, but rather saw
no need to duplicate the CIA's efforts.

Deutch, who left DoD to become CIA director, has been accused of
mishandling classified CIA materials in several ways involving
government computers in his office and at home. The question
arose whether he might have done the same while with DoD.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, at a Sept. 19 DoD
press briefing, said DoD saw "very little value of reinventing
the wheel" when CIA officials notified DoD in June and July 1998
that they were investigating Deutch. Quigley added that he is
"crystal clear" that there was no resistance from the DoD
inspector general to dig into the situation.

"The CIA had already started down this road," the admiral said.
"(They) had asked for our assistance to provide them information
that was relevant to their investigation from DOD records and
files. Rather than duplicating their effort, we felt that the
best course of action was to let that professional investigation
proceed."

The CIA asked DoD for help in looking into Deutch's handling of
classified material while deputy secretary and undersecretary of
defense for acquisition in the early 1990s.

When Defense Secretary William Cohen received the CIA's full
report in February 2000, he directed officials to begin an
internal damage assessment, Quigley said.

The admiral explained there are two parts to the investigation -
- the defense inspector general is looking into Deutch's
handling of computers, and where those computers have been and
how they've been used since he left DoD. Meanwhile, the
department also is looking into what type of information was
actually handled on those computers.

Quigley insisted under reporters' intense questioning there was
no double standard in the treatment of Deutch and of Wen Ho Lee,
the Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist who was jailed for
nine months on more than 50 allegations of espionage and
recently freed on a plea bargain after all but one charge was
thrown out.

"The allegation against Wen Ho Lee was that it was a conscious
effort on his part to compromise classified information. The
allegations against Dr. Deutch from the beginning have been lax
handling. There's a world of difference, in my mind. I do not
equate the two," Quigley said.