Tuesday, 29 August 2000 6:26 (ET)
Prosecutor to recommend criminal charges against Deutch
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A prosecutor hired by the Justice
Department will recommend that criminal charges be sought against former CIA
Director John Deutch for suspected misuse of secret intelligence documents
on his home computer, The Washington Times reported Tuesday.
The newspaper said a written recommendation is expected to be sent
shortly to Attorney General Janet Reno, who has the final say on whether
charges will be sought in the case.
The Justice Department began a preliminary review of Deutch's suspected
misuse of highly classified intelligence and defense documents on his
unprotected home computers in February.
Reno said at the time the department was "reviewing the whole matter,
to see whether there is any basis for further action," the Times said.
The review was ordered in the wake of a Senate investigation and new
information about Deutch's receipt of the classified documents, the paper
said.
In April 1999, the Justice Department investigated the suspected
document misuse, which occurred in 1995, but declined to prosecute Deutch
for criminal wrongdoing.
At the time, department lawyers questioned the misuse of the files but
concluded there was no basis for a criminal prosecution.
The CIA concluded in July 1999 that the intelligence and defense
documents Deutch downloaded on his personal computers were highly vulnerable
to theft by foreign intelligence agents who could have broken into his homes
in Bethesda, Md., and Boston and copied the information.
But the agency said in a report that there was no clear evidence the
documents had been compromised, although it concluded Deutch knew he was
risking national security by placing highly sensitive information on the
unclassified computers and did nothing to prevent it, the Times said.
The report described the information Deutch downloaded as relating to
"covert action, top secret communications intelligence and the National
Reconnaissance Program budget."
Deutch left the CIA in December 1996 and is now a professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
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