The Senate probe of who knew what-and when-about the possible compromise of the Pentagon's deepest secrets by former Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch has spilled over from the Judiciary Committee to the Governmental Affairs Committee, according to congressional and Pentagon officials.
This inquiry throws an additional shadow over the pending nomination of Donald Mancuso to become the Pentagon's top cop, with the title of inspector general.
The Governmental Affairs Committee evidently is having second thoughts about its endorsement of Mancuso in light of recent disclosures about his failure to warn his bosses loudly and clearly about Deutch's possible compromise of top-secret military information while Deutch served at the Pentagon from 1993 to 1995.
Senate Judiciary Administrative Oversight and the Courts Subcommittee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, already has put a hold on the Mancuso nomination on grounds that the nominee coddled a deputy after he was convicted of a felony, employed unethical tactics during the Tailhook investigation by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and failed to launch a timely investigation of Deutch's possible compromise of defense secrets.
The CIA warned one of Mancuso's deputies in June 1998 that Deutch might have compromised super sensitive "special access" information, which only a select few may see. Deutch served as CIA director after leaving the Defense Department.
But the warning about Deutch that Mancuso passed up the chain of command in July 1998 to Defense Secretary Cohen and Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre did not mention the possible loss of special access information because of Deutch's sloppy handling of classified material.
Hamre told National Journal News Service that he did not find Mancuso's so-called SecDef Alert of July 1998 compelling, noting its absence of warnings about special access material. Cohen and Hamre said the first time they knew about this possible loss was in February 2000, when they launched a belated investigation.
What Mancuso knew and when he knew it is a central focus of the parallel investigation now under way by the Governmental Affairs Committee, according to congressional and Defense officials. Committee counsel Chris Ford has been asking that question in recent interviews, these officials said.
Grassley contends that the inspector general law required Mancuso, as the Pentagon's top cop in 1998, to launch an independent investigation of what military secrets Deutch might have compromised, rather than leave this damage assessment to the CIA and Pentagon general counsel.
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