As rotten as they come!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Cheney's subpoenaed e-mails missing

Vice President's e-mail lost for key week in CIA leak probe

WASHINGTON - When Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wanted to find out what was going on inside Vice President ####### Cheney's office, the prosecutor in the CIA leak probe made a logical move. He dropped a grand jury subpoena on the White House for all the relevant e-mail.

One problem: Even though White House computer technicians hunted high and low, an entire week's worth of e-mail from Cheney's office was missing. The week was Sept. 30, 2003, to Oct. 6, 2003, the opening days of the Justice Department's probe into whether anyone at the White House leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

That episode was part of the picture that unfolded Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where Democrats on a House committee released new information about one of the Bush White House's long-running issues, its problem-plagued e-mail system.

Email recovery

For the first time, a former White House computer technician went public with the details. Steven McDevitt revealed in written statements submitted to Congress how a plan was developed to try to recover the missing e-mail for Fitzgerald.

Ultimately, 250 pages of electronic messages were retrieved from the personal e-mail accounts of officials in Cheney's office, but whether that amounted to all the relevant e-mail is a question that may never be answered.

McDevitt made clear that it was a sensitive issue inside the White House.

"I worked with ... White House Counsel on efforts to provide an explanation to the special prosecutor," McDevitt wrote. "This included providing a briefing to the special prosecutor's staff on this subject."

McDevitt provided no details of the meetings with White House Counsel Harriet Miers and others in the counsel's office in late 2005 and early 2006. The White House refused to comment on those meetings.

White House on defensive

The White House put the best face on a bad hearing Tuesday of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, defending the administration's handling of its electronic messages.

McDevitt said that one estimate from a 2005 analysis was that more than 1,000 days of e-mail were missing from January 2003 to Aug. 10, 2005. McDevitt said "the process by which e-mail was being collected and retained was primitive and the risk that data would be lost was high." The "low end" estimate was about 470 days, he added.

The White House says a substantial amount of what had been believed to be missing e-mail had been located.

"We are very energized about getting to the bottom of this" issue, Theresa Payton, chief information officer at the White House Office of Administration, testified to the committee.

"This is a form of sandbagging," replied Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who pointed out that by the time the White House fixes its e-mail problems, "you'll be out of office."

E-mail shortcomings

McDevitt's statements detailed shortcomings that he said have plagued the White House e-mail system for six years. He said:

The White House had no complete inventory of e-mail files.

There was no automatic system to ensure that e-mail was archived and preserved.

Until mid-2005 the e-mail system had serious security flaws, in which "everyone" on the White House computer network had access to e-mail. McDevitt wrote that the "potential impact" of the security flaw was that there was no way to verify that retained data had not been modified.

A new e-mail archiving system that would have addressed the problems was "ready to go live" on Aug. 21, 2006.

Payton told Waxman's committee she canceled the new system in late 2006 because it would have required modifications and additional spending. An alternative system is under way, she said.

Payton's predecessor, Carlos Solari, told the House committee that he was puzzled that the new system had been rejected and that he had "absolutely" believed that the system Payton rejected would be implemented.

When President Bush leaves office, presidential records and federal records at the White House will be turned over to the National Archives. Waxman produced a memo pointing to a lack of cooperation between the White House and the Archives.

"We still know virtually nothing about the status of the alleged missing White House e-mails," the Archives' general counsel, Gary Stern, wrote to his boss last September.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23367672/

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

You have inside information?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

You have inside information?

He has the purposefully deleted missing emails.

[GaryC 7]

Good man. Don't give those SOB's anything. Let them yell.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

She most certainly was.

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

The whole thing is a waste. The making a crime out of no crime. Joe Wilson the attention #######, filing one report with the CIA then write the op-ed that contradicts his own report. Then his wife that can in no way be considered covert under the law, as testified by the author of the law. Launches an independent prosecutor investigation that waste millions of dollars to come up with a process crime that relies on someones memory vs. another persons memory. That they bring to trial in a jurisdiction that would give them best chance to get a conviction. Witch Hunt.

No more independent prosecutors, they waste my money. No more bogus BS! Idiots on parade with Waxman leading the way. Who cares about e-mails? It was bogus from the get go!

Edited February 29, 2008 by Don_Joy's Prince

[GaryC 7]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

She most certainly was.

Not when she was outed. Even the person who wrote the law about outing covert operatives said she wasn't. This was all political BS and I am glad to see Cheney successfully stonewalling them. Keep it up!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I looked into my crystal ball and saw there will be a leak soon and the domino's will fall.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

This whole thing is a waste of my tax dollars and a witch hunt. I can't believe it is even taken seriously. Biggest waste of my tax money ever! She was not even covert! Waxman is just another idiot on parade. And all that follow!

She most certainly was.

Not when she was outed. Even the person who wrote the law about outing covert operatives said she wasn't. This was all political BS and I am glad to see Cheney successfully stonewalling them. Keep it up!

You're not referring to Toensing, are you?

I can't imagine that people who think this is a load of nonsense would react the same way if the offending leaker had been associated w/ a Democrat administration. They'd be calling for this person's public hanging.

[rebeccajo 14]

Cheney's subpoenaed e-mails missing

Vice President's e-mail lost for key week in CIA leak probe

WASHINGTON - When Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wanted to find out what was going on inside Vice President ####### Cheney's office, the prosecutor in the CIA leak probe made a logical move. He dropped a grand jury subpoena on the White House for all the relevant e-mail.

One problem: Even though White House computer technicians hunted high and low, an entire week's worth of e-mail from Cheney's office was missing. The week was Sept. 30, 2003, to Oct. 6, 2003, the opening days of the Justice Department's probe into whether anyone at the White House leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

That episode was part of the picture that unfolded Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where Democrats on a House committee released new information about one of the Bush White House's long-running issues, its problem-plagued e-mail system.

Email recovery

For the first time, a former White House computer technician went public with the details. Steven McDevitt revealed in written statements submitted to Congress how a plan was developed to try to recover the missing e-mail for Fitzgerald.

Ultimately, 250 pages of electronic messages were retrieved from the personal e-mail accounts of officials in Cheney's office, but whether that amounted to all the relevant e-mail is a question that may never be answered.

McDevitt made clear that it was a sensitive issue inside the White House.

"I worked with ... White House Counsel on efforts to provide an explanation to the special prosecutor," McDevitt wrote. "This included providing a briefing to the special prosecutor's staff on this subject."

McDevitt provided no details of the meetings with White House Counsel Harriet Miers and others in the counsel's office in late 2005 and early 2006. The White House refused to comment on those meetings.

White House on defensive

The White House put the best face on a bad hearing Tuesday of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, defending the administration's handling of its electronic messages.

McDevitt said that one estimate from a 2005 analysis was that more than 1,000 days of e-mail were missing from January 2003 to Aug. 10, 2005. McDevitt said "the process by which e-mail was being collected and retained was primitive and the risk that data would be lost was high." The "low end" estimate was about 470 days, he added.

The White House says a substantial amount of what had been believed to be missing e-mail had been located.

"We are very energized about getting to the bottom of this" issue, Theresa Payton, chief information officer at the White House Office of Administration, testified to the committee.

"This is a form of sandbagging," replied Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who pointed out that by the time the White House fixes its e-mail problems, "you'll be out of office."

E-mail shortcomings

McDevitt's statements detailed shortcomings that he said have plagued the White House e-mail system for six years. He said:

The White House had no complete inventory of e-mail files.

There was no automatic system to ensure that e-mail was archived and preserved.

Until mid-2005 the e-mail system had serious security flaws, in which "everyone" on the White House computer network had access to e-mail. McDevitt wrote that the "potential impact" of the security flaw was that there was no way to verify that retained data had not been modified.

A new e-mail archiving system that would have addressed the problems was "ready to go live" on Aug. 21, 2006.

Payton told Waxman's committee she canceled the new system in late 2006 because it would have required modifications and additional spending. An alternative system is under way, she said.

Payton's predecessor, Carlos Solari, told the House committee that he was puzzled that the new system had been rejected and that he had "absolutely" believed that the system Payton rejected would be implemented.

When President Bush leaves office, presidential records and federal records at the White House will be turned over to the National Archives. Waxman produced a memo pointing to a lack of cooperation between the White House and the Archives.

"We still know virtually nothing about the status of the alleged missing White House e-mails," the Archives' general counsel, Gary Stern, wrote to his boss last September.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23367672/

I find that really hard to believe.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Good man. Don't give those SOB's anything. Let them yell.

Who are these SOBs?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The whole thing is a waste. The making a crime out of no crime. Joe Wilson the attention #######, filing one report with the CIA then write the op-ed that contradicts his own report. Then his wife that can in no way be considered covert under the law, as testified by the author of the law. Launches an independent prosecutor investigation that waste millions of dollars to come up with a process crime that relies on someones memory vs. another persons memory. That they bring to trial in a jurisdiction that would give them best chance to get a conviction. Witch Hunt.

No more independent prosecutors, they waste my money. No more bogus BS! Idiots on parade with Waxman leading the way. Who cares about e-mails? It was bogus from the get go!

Cite your source(s), Don. You make it not so by saying it ain't so...seriously.

[rebeccajo 14]

Good man. Don't give those SOB's anything. Let them yell.

Who are these SOBs?

.....the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.....

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1763

http://oversight.house.gov/about/members.asp

"In 2007, Rep. Waxman became Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the principal investigative committee in the House. From 1997 to 2006, Rep. Waxman served as Ranking Member of the Committee, conducting investigations into a wide range of topics from the high cost of prescription drugs to waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting. He formed a Special Investigations Division that prepared hundreds of investigative reports on local and national topics for Members of Congress.

Since 2001, Rep. Waxman has worked to oppose efforts by the Bush Administration to block congressional oversight and roll back health and environmental laws. He has launched investigations of White House ties to Enron, contract abuses in Iraq, and the politicization of science. He has also fought for disclosure of the names of the energy industry lobbyists who shaped the White House energy plan and filed suit to force the Administration to released "adjusted" data from the 2000 Census that corrects for the undercount of minorities. In addition, Rep. Waxman has repeatedly fought efforts by EPA to relax important air pollution and drinking water protections and by FDA to weaken enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act."

Edited February 29, 2008 by rebeccajo