Information Security News: Hatch suspends GOP aide

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.thehill.com/news/112603/hatch.aspx

By Alexander Bolton
November 26, 2003

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced 
last night that a committee aide has been suspended after an internal 
investigation determined that the aide had accessed sensitive 
Democratic computer files that were leaked to the press.

Appearing at a hastily called press conference in the Senate Radio-TV 
Gallery, Hatch said the staffer, whom he did not identify, was placed 
on administrative leave with pay. He said a former committee majority 
aide also had knowledge of the security breach, but was not 
disciplined. 

"It is with deep regret that I must report today that the interviews 
conducted to date have revealed at least one current member of 
Judiciary Committee majority staff had improperly accessed some of the 
[Democratic] documents," Hatch said.

Hatch said he was "mortified" at the results of the investigation, 
which he ordered. 

"There's no excuse that can justify these actions," he said.

The chairman has instructed his staff to fully cooperate with the 
ongoing investigation, which was carried out by "two experienced 
federal prosecutors assigned to the committee." They interviewed some 
50 current and former staff members. 

Hatch's dramatic disclosure reversed an earlier claim of innocence 
that came earlier in the day when he announced that the internal GOP 
investigation had turned up no evidence of culpability by the 
Republican staff. 

In a related development, The Hill learned yesterday that 
Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle had hired a renowned counter-espionage 
and anti-terrorism expert to join the investigation of the alleged 
theft of internal Democratic documents from a committee computer 
system. 

The expert, David Lang, an employee of General Dynamics, began work 
yesterday, according to Senate sources. It was not immediately clear 
what effect, if any, Hatch's disclosures would have on Lang's role.

Meanwhile, the sergeant-at-arms also informed Sen. Dick Durbin 
(D-Ill.) that members of his office will work with the Judiciary staff 
to create separate computer systems for Republicans and Democrats on 
the committee, as the Democrats have requested. 

Until now, majority and minority committee staff has shared a computer 
system. 

Democrats suspect that Republicans stole sensitive documents from 
their files. 

The documents revealed the role of outside groups such as the NAACP 
Legal Defense Fund and People for the American Way in consulting and 
advising committee Democrats on how to deal with President Bush's 
nominees to the federal bench. 

"A forensic assessment of the Judiciary Committee's networks will be 
critical to determining if there was unauthorized access to files and 
to build a history of accounts and privileges," wrote Pickle early 
this week in a letter to Durbin. "We believe that this analysis, 
coupled with interviews of committee staff and former staff who had 
access to the documents in question, will provide us the information 
we need to conduct this investigation."

Lang brings to the task a long list of credentials. 

During a 25-year career in counter-espionage, anti-terrorism, and law 
enforcement, he has worked with the United Nations and NATO, 
conducting penetration and mock destruction tests of NATO command 
facilities, some of the most secure in the world. 

He also tested the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia's computer systems 
after Operation Desert Storm. 

In addition, Lang worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration 
and served as a U.S. arms control treaty inspector. 

Lang also served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and served as the 
special agent in charge of the Schriever (crct) Air Force base in 
Colorado. Lang was hired after Democratic Sens, Patrick Leahy (Vt.), 
Edward Kennedy (Mass) and Durbin asked for an independent computer and 
forensics expert to enter the investigation.

General Dynamics is headquarted in Falls Church, Va., and bills itself 
as a world leader in mission-critical information systems and land and 
amphibious combat systems. It employs over 50,000 people. 

The sergeant-at-arms has also asked the General Accounting Office to 
perform a comprehensive study of the Judiciary panel's computer 
security and recommend any vulnerabilities that need to be protected. 

Since Nov. 16, Pickle has turned daily backup tapes of the Judiciary 
panel's computer system to the Capitol Police. On Friday, his staff 
also seized four committee computer servers. 

Earlier this week, several Judiciary Committee Republicans, including 
Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Jeff Sessions 
(Ala.), Larry Craig (Idaho), and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) objected to 
what they feared would become a open-ended fishing expedition into 
committee business. 

"We strongly object to allowing anyone to read backup tapes or other 
electronic media from the Judiciary Committee server, the Exchange 
server or otherwise breach the privacy of our electronic files and 
communications," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Pickle dated Nov. 
22. 

Committee Republicans requested that the sergeant-at-arms give them a 
status report of what steps have been taken and are currently being 
taken in the investigation, and notify them of all current action and 
any future action in connection with the investigation. They also 
demanded that the inquiry be limited exclusively to an examination of 
the 14 Democratic memoranda that were leaked to The Wall Street 
Journal and The Washington Times. 



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