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Topic summary

Posted by George W. Maschke
 - Jun 22, 2001, 05:21 PM
Written statements submitted by the Committee Chairman, Ranking Minority Member, and witnesses are now available on the Committee's website at:

http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/hr062001f.htm

The 2 1/2 hour hearings may also be viewed in RealPlayer format courtesy of C-SPAN. (It is not clear how long the C-SPAN recording will remain available.)

During the hearing, the only witness to address FBI polygraph policy was Judge William H. Webster, who mentioned it in passing when speaking about the blue ribbon panel FBI Director Louis J. Freeh asked him to lead to make security recommendations in the aftermath of the Robert P. Hanssen espionage case:

QuoteI have a staff now of approximately ten -- nine, to be exact, attorneys headed by Michael Shaheen, a distinguished former head of the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Department of Justice. Outside the -- most of our staff members are assigned and seconded to us from other agencies of government. I also asked Russell Bruemmer, and he's been working with me -- he was the former General Counsel of the CIA, worked with me at the FBI on the 68 agent cases, and I've asked him to assume major responsibility on the polygraph issues -- the use of polygraph as a vetting process, which prior to [the] Robert Hanssen case did not exist, except on entry level basis....

Former CIA General Counsel Russell J. Bruemmer is now a partner with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC. A bi
ographical sketch is available on the firm's website.

I encourage anyone who has relevant information to promptly contact Mr. Bruemmer and share it with him (I'll be doing so):

Russell J. Bruemmer
Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering
2445 M Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037

Phone: 202-663-6804
Fax: 202-663-6363
rbruemmer@wilmer.com
Posted by George W. Maschke
 - Jun 20, 2001, 11:23 AM
To listen to this hearing live, beginning at 1:00 P.M. Eastern time today (Wednesday, 20 June 2001), go to C-SPAN's new CapitolHearings.org website:

http://www.capitolhearings.org

and click on the link for Dirksen 226 on the right-hand side.

It's not clear whether polygaph policy will be dicsussed. However, FBI polygraph policy is within the purview of Judge William Webster's blue ribbon panel that will be making recommendations for improving security in the aftermath of the Hanssen espionage case, and Webster is on the witness list. According to the Judiciary Committee's website, the following individuals are scheduled to testify at today's hearing:

The Honorable John Danforth
Former Senator
St. Louis, MO

The Honorable Glenn Fine
Inspector General
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.

The Honorable William Webster
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCoy, LLP
Washington, D.C.

The Honorable Michael Bromwich
Former Inspector General
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.

Norm Rabkin
Managing Director
U.S. General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C.
Posted by George W. Maschke
 - Jun 19, 2001, 12:01 PM
The Committee on the  Judiciary's website indicates that this hearing has been rescheduled for 1:00 P.M. instead of 10:00 A.M.
Posted by George W. Maschke
 - Jun 15, 2001, 01:36 PM
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary will be holding a hearing on "Oversight: Restoring Confidence in the FBI" on Wednesday, 20 June 2001 at 10:00 A.M. 1:00 P.M. in Dirksen Room 226. A brief announcement about the hearing is posted on the Committee's website at:

http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/hr062001h.htm

It is not yet clear what witnesses will be called and what questions will be raised, but it seems likely that FBI polygraph policy may be addressed, although the immediate impetus for the hearing may be reports that Osama bin Ladin, who stands indicted for acts of terrorism against the United States, obtained classified U.S. software.

In an article in today's (15 June 2001) Washington Times, Jerry Seper reports in an article titled "Senate panel plans probe of FBI's internal security":
QuoteThe chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in the wake of reports that classified software made its way to terrorist Osama bin Laden, yesterday said the FBI internal security safeguards will be a major focus of pending committee hearings.

     Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said he is concerned that the country«s internal security will be breached if federal authorities are unable to keep classified information from "outside enemies."

     "We have spent millions of dollars on computer security for federal agencies, and much of it goes to the FBI," Mr. Leahy told The Washington Times. "Keeping secrets from outside enemies of this country is only as good as our internal security.

     "If the FBI is doing a poor job on internal security, all the money in the world will not effectively keep outsiders from breaching our most critical and secure systems," he said, adding that the committee would hold as yet unscheduled oversight hearings on the FBI internal security safeguards.

     Mr. Leahy's comments came in the wake of reports in yesterday«s editions of The Times that Robert P. Hanssen, a former FBI agent now awaiting trial on federal espionage charges, gave sophisticated software to his Russian handlers that later was sold to bin Laden for $2 million.

     House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican, also has said he intends to hold oversight hearings this year in the Hanssen case. Mr. Sensenbrenner told reporters he wanted to know what protections the FBI had built into its internal security system "against double agents as a result of the Hanssen case."
The complete text of the Washington Times article may be read here:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20010615-16810154.htm

It is not clear if the "as yet unscheduled hearings" referred to in this article are those now scheduled for 20 June 2001.