[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          WHITE HOUSE EMPLOYEES WITH CLEARANCES ARE DANGEROUS

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                           HON. BILL McCOLLUM

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 24, 1994

  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, in light of the recent Ames spy case at 
the CIA, it is ludicrous that there are over a hundred White House 
staffers who have not yet received their security clearances. Every day 
a potential Trojan horse pulls up to the White House and empties these 
staffers and hundreds of other employees who don't yet have permanent 
passes. The White House seems to be saying ``Well if you worked for my 
campaign we know you're OK and we'll get around to getting you a 
security clearance when it's convenient for you to fill out the 
forms.''
  Meanwhile employees at the CIA must file financial disclosure forms 
and take polygraph tests. Yes we know they are busy at the White House 
but other administrations were able to comply with the 30 day limit in 
filling out the security forms. Yet here it is more than a year after 
the deadline and over 100 employees who enter the White House every day 
still have not received an OK from the F.B.I. This is not only alarming 
and potentially dangerous, but an indication of the sloppy procedures 
at the White House. But it comes from the top. White House Chief of 
Staff Mack McLarty who wrote the guidelines for employers to follow did 
not himself get a permanent pass until earlier this month. Mr. Kennedy 
who oversees the issuing of passes did not complete the FBI check until 
early December. Even today a number of senior White House officials 
without security clearance presumably have access to some of the 
Nation's most sensitive security information.
  All we ask for is a consistent policy to protect the safety of our 
country. Surely with that in mind no one is above the law.

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