[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 23, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          FOX IN THE HEN HOUSE

  (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, it looks like the fox is back in the hen house 
one more time. Here we go again, another Clinton White House official 
in trouble over ethical problems. I read in the Washington Times this 
morning an answer to a question I asked here a week or two ago, why are 
we having stalling on these passes at the White House for security 
clearances? National security is a matter of some concern to us, 
especially with all the terrorism we see going around today.
  I discover we have a gentleman who has been reprimanded once by the 
way he handled the Travelgate situation, Mr. Kennedy, a member of the 
Rose law firm apparently, who has been put in charge of the passes. 
Maybe that explains why we have got a backlog.
  Quoting from the paper, it says ``Mr. Kennedy's failure to routinely 
pass the reports on to Secret Service for review resulted in a long 
backlog of employees awaiting clearance for a permanent pass, according 
to congressional and administration officials.''
  It goes on to say, ``Of about 1,000 FBI background checks of White 
House personnel, more than 500 revealed derogatory information that 
would have prevented the people from obtaining security clearances at 
the FBI, Defense Department, or CIA, said an administration source.'' 
And these people are making decisions.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the following material at the end of my 
remarks.

              [From the Washington Times, March 23, 1994]

                   Passes Stalled by White House Aide

                         (By Rowan Scarborough)

       White House Associate Counsel William H. Kennedy III's 
     decision to hold back hundreds of completed FBI background 
     reports was the chief reason many White House employees did 
     not have permanent access passes months after assuming their 
     jobs.
       Mr. Kennedy's failure to routinely pass the reports on to 
     the Secret Service for review resulted in a long backlog of 
     employees awaiting clearance for a permanent pass, according 
     to congressional and administration officials.
       The pass backlog started last year after the Secret Service 
     expressed reservations about approving permanent badges for 
     two aides for security reasons based on their FBI reports, 
     according to the officials.
       Only Mr. Kennedy--criticized for his role in the Travelgate 
     affair and reportedly close to resigning--and first lady 
     Hillary Rodham Clinton remain of the four partners of Little 
     Rock's Rose Law Firm who came to Washington with President 
     Clinton.
       The others were Associate Attorney General Webster L. 
     Hubbell, who announced his resignation last week to deal with 
     charges that he overbilled clients at the Rose firm, and 
     Deputy White House Counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr., who died 
     last July of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
       The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Mr. Kennedy 
     may have tried to hide a tax problem from FBI agents 
     investigating his background. The newspaper said Mr. Kennedy 
     paid $1,300 in delinquent Social Security taxes under his 
     wife's maiden name and through a Little Rock accounting firm.
       White House Communications Director Mark Gearan said 
     yesterday that Mr. Kennedy told him he was not trying to 
     conceal anything and that his wife ``wanted to keep her 
     [maiden] name alive.''
       Mr. Kennedy, who is in the process of a divorce, was 
     reprimanded by the White House last year for 
     ``inappropriate'' contacts with the FBI after the abrupt 
     firing of White House travel office employees.
       Of about 1,000 FBI background checks of White House 
     personnel, more than 500 revealed derogatory information that 
     would have prevented the people from obtaining security 
     clearances at the FBI, Defense Department or CIA, said an 
     administration source, who asked not to be named.
       The FBI found cases of past drug use and drug convictions, 
     years of unpaid taxes, unpaid debts and financial 
     irregularities--discrepancies that can be grounds for Secret 
     Service questions.
       In recent days, as press reports disclosed the backlog, the 
     White House has moved to issue large batches of building 
     passes, apparently to people whose background reports were 
     complete but had not yet been submitted to the Secret 
     Service.
       White House spokeswoman Ginny Terzano yesterday disputed 
     that hundreds of background reports had been held up because 
     the FBI uncovered discrepancies.
       ``Your sources are just totally wrong. Your numbers and 
     your characterization are wrong,'' Ms. Terzano said.
       White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said two weeks 
     ago that the backlog was the result of negligent employees 
     failing to fill out initial questionnaires needed to start 
     the FBI clearance procedure. On the job for more than 14 
     months, Miss Myers herself had not completed any of the 
     background forms and is using a temporary pass.
       Ms. Terzano said on Monday that Miss Myers since has filled 
     out the necessary forms. She said all employees are now in 
     compliance with White House guidelines that call for 
     submitting the paperwork within their first 30 days on the 
     job.
       ``Only a handful'' of applicable employees, like Miss 
     Myers, had not filled out the forms in time to meet the 
     deadline, Ms. Terzano said. ``What you ought to be writing 
     about is that we're in compliance,'' she added.
       Congressional and administration sources said tardiness is 
     only part of the problem. The sources said much of the 
     backlog is due to FBI reports coming back with derogatory 
     information that caused Mr. Kennedy to delay submitting them 
     to the Secret Service.
       Mr. Kennedy did not return a telephone call for comment 
     yesterday.
       The large number of White House aides without permanent 
     passes is ``radically different'' from previous 
     administrations, which in most cases gave employees no more 
     than 60 days to get a permanent pass, one administration 
     source said. While called a ``permanent'' pass, the access is 
     good for five years.
       ``Secret Service is royally mad at Kennedy because this is 
     not the way the system is supposed to be run,'' the 
     administration source said.
       Mr. Kennedy, who oversees the issuing of passes, himself 
     did not complete the FBI check to get a permanent pass until 
     early December, after being at the White House nearly a year.
       Rep. Frank Wolf, Virginia Republican, who charges the White 
     House has stonewalled Congress in providing information 
     regarding the passes, said yesterday he will ask the General 
     Accounting Office to investigate.
       ``The reports of hundreds of White House employees . . . 
     not having permanent passes for over a year into the 
     administration is alarming,'' said Mr. Wolf, a member of the 
     House Appropriations subcommittee on Treasury, postal 
     services and general government. ``Why weren't timely 
     procedures followed? Why did those in charge continually 
     misrepresent the situation?''
       It normally takes about two months for an employee to 
     undergo the background check and obtain a permanent pass. 
     Permanent passes are issued on the authority of the counsel's 
     office, with input from the Secret Service and the White 
     House Office of Security.
       Other senior White House aides, in addition to Miss Myers 
     and Mr. Kennedy, also failed to gain a permanent pass months 
     after assuming duties.
       White House Chief of Staff Thomas ``Mack'' McLarty, who 
     wrote the guidelines for employees to follow, did not get a 
     permanent pass until earlier this month, after newspapers, 
     including The Washington Times, first disclosed the backlog.
       Patsy Thomasson, who directs the White House Office of 
     Administration, got a permanent pass this month after she was 
     the subject of a Wall Street Journal editorial.
       The administration source said the news stories infuriated 
     Mr. Clinton, who spoke to Mr. Kennedy about the delays last 
     week.
       Incoming White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler, who has pledged 
     to clear up the backlog, said last week that aides had been 
     ordered to expedite the process. He detailed Christopher 
     Cerf, general counsel in the office of administration, to 
     complete the task.
       Mr. Cutler, in a March 18 letter to Mr. Wolf, said top 
     aides such as Miss Myers can still review top-secret material 
     despite not having a final building pass.

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