Report: CIA Stalled Internal Investigation

According to the inspector general's report, C.I.A. computer security specialists discovered [former CIA Director John Tenet] had placed large volumes of classified material on personal computers in his home, including information about some of the most sensitive covert operations.

This was a potential violation of both agency rules and federal law, but the report says an inquiry by security officials was effectively shelved after a few months. ... [Current CIA Director George] Tenet learned of the possible security breach almost immediately but did not move to reprimand Mr. Deutch until the inspector general had notified the Justice Department of a possible violation and completed his report on how the case had been handled inside the C.I.A.

After reviewing the case, the Justice Department decided last April not to prosecute Mr. Deutch in August, after the inspector general's report was issued, Mr. Tenet suspended Mr. Deutch's security clearances, and Mr. Deutch issued a statement apologizing for his actions.

There's no evidence that Wen Ho Lee transferred files to a foreign power either, but since he's a wily Chinee, he must up to no good.

This is interesting:

According to the report, Mr. Deutch used unclassified Macintosh computers for classified work throughout his tenure as director. He chose not to conduct sensitive work on the classified computer system at the C.I.A. because he said he was afraid that other C.I.A. officials would see what he was writing, according to the report.

The report goes on to say that Mr. Deutch requested that he be allowed to keep his three Macs after he left office, as he was using them for his personal banking (using company equipment for personal use, that's another violation!). He was allowed to keep the computers on the provision that he do some no-fee "consulting" work for the Agency (wink, wink), a condition to which he quickly agreed. It's not at all clear why he needed three computers to run Quicken... one works just fine for me.

He had also used these unclassified computers, containing classified CIA data, to access AOL and Citibank's web site.