"Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William H. Pickle has been conducting an investigation into the matter. And a few weeks ago it emerged that the infiltration had been far more extensive than earlier believed. For at least a year, and probably more like eighteen months, GOP staffers accessed the Democrats confidential files. And they snatched approximately 5,000 of them, give or take.
But the big change came last Thursday at an open hearing of the Judiciary Committee. Faced with the new evidence, pretty much every Republican on the committee gave up on offering any justifications or excuses for what had happened. And even those who had been most aggressive in fighting off Democratic attacks conceded that what had happened was quite possibly criminal and should be pursued by law enforcement authorities."
perhaps pursued by some of the agencies that are getting the short end of the shaft from Bush . . . . that would be sweeeeet
CARNIVORE and ECHELON probably have logs of the transfers, and it would be pretty surprising if the NSA wasn't flagging suspicious activity on Gov't servers
"But the big change came last Thursday at an open hearing of the Judiciary Committee. Faced with the new evidence, pretty much every Republican on the committee gave up on offering any justifications or excuses for what had happened. And even those who had been most aggressive in fighting off Democratic attacks conceded that what had happened was quite possibly criminal and should be pursued by law enforcement authorities."
I hope some of the people around here that defended the actions will concede the same.
WASHINGTON -- A Utah clerk on Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's Judiciary Committee staff secretly combed the confidential computer files of Democrats "on an almost daily basis," a Senate investigation has concluded.
___ In a report released Thursday, the Senate Sergeant At Arms (SAA) found that Nominations Unit clerk Jason Lundell covertly gathered 4,670 files from the committee's shared computer server, after getting networkwide access by watching a technical administrator work on his computer and copying his moves. Lundell then relayed information on Democratic strategies for blocking judicial nominees to his superiors, the report said.
___ The investigation also found "significant security vulnerabilities" existed in the computer network, caused by the administrator's "inexperience, lack of training and oversight."
___ Although the committee voted to release only a version of the report with names of interviewees deleted, committee staff inadvertently gave all reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference copies of the full report, identifying Lundell as the primary perpetrator.
___ Manuel Miranda, another former Hatch staffer who resigned as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last month, acknowledged he accessed and read "two or three" Democratic files. The SAA report says there is "circumstantial evidence" implicating Miranda as the Senate employee who gave the confidential documents to an activist, who allegedly leaked them to the news media...
Jason Lundell was the guy who actually pilfered the memos, but Manuel Miranda was the ringleader of the affair. Miranda knew that Lundell had already been told not to use Democratic material, but:
Mr. Miranda's response, according to Mr. Lundell, was that everyone knew about the open access and that he did not have to follow the directions given to him by [his boss]. Furthermore, Mr. Lundell recalled that Mr. Miranda told him that Senator Hatch wanted the staff to use any means necessary to support President Bush's nominees.
What a sweetheart. He seems to have mistaken Orrin Hatch's version of "any means necessary" with Tony Soprano's.
Comments
Originally posted by chu_bakka
looks more and more like it'll get into the courts...
it's looking like it was 18 months of snooping...
and 5,000 documents in the possession of the republicans.
AND Bush appointed Pryor today.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
"Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William H. Pickle has been conducting an investigation into the matter. And a few weeks ago it emerged that the infiltration had been far more extensive than earlier believed. For at least a year, and probably more like eighteen months, GOP staffers accessed the Democrats confidential files. And they snatched approximately 5,000 of them, give or take.
But the big change came last Thursday at an open hearing of the Judiciary Committee. Faced with the new evidence, pretty much every Republican on the committee gave up on offering any justifications or excuses for what had happened. And even those who had been most aggressive in fighting off Democratic attacks conceded that what had happened was quite possibly criminal and should be pursued by law enforcement authorities."
perhaps pursued by some of the agencies that are getting the short end of the shaft from Bush . . . . that would be sweeeeet
Originally posted by chu_bakka
"But the big change came last Thursday at an open hearing of the Judiciary Committee. Faced with the new evidence, pretty much every Republican on the committee gave up on offering any justifications or excuses for what had happened. And even those who had been most aggressive in fighting off Democratic attacks conceded that what had happened was quite possibly criminal and should be pursued by law enforcement authorities."
I hope some of the people around here that defended the actions will concede the same.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2095803/
they eat their own.
Originally posted by chu_bakka
Look what happens when Orrin Hatch said there must be an investigation immediately...
http://slate.msn.com/id/2095803/
they eat their own.
At least one of them was willing to admit that this is horrible.
sounds like LAWBREAKING TO ME.
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/mar/03052004/utah/144963.asp
Probe finds ex-clerks on Hatch panel hacked files
By Christopher Smith
The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON -- A Utah clerk on Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's Judiciary Committee staff secretly combed the confidential computer files of Democrats "on an almost daily basis," a Senate investigation has concluded.
___ In a report released Thursday, the Senate Sergeant At Arms (SAA) found that Nominations Unit clerk Jason Lundell covertly gathered 4,670 files from the committee's shared computer server, after getting networkwide access by watching a technical administrator work on his computer and copying his moves. Lundell then relayed information on Democratic strategies for blocking judicial nominees to his superiors, the report said.
___ The investigation also found "significant security vulnerabilities" existed in the computer network, caused by the administrator's "inexperience, lack of training and oversight."
___ Although the committee voted to release only a version of the report with names of interviewees deleted, committee staff inadvertently gave all reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference copies of the full report, identifying Lundell as the primary perpetrator.
___ Manuel Miranda, another former Hatch staffer who resigned as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last month, acknowledged he accessed and read "two or three" Democratic files. The SAA report says there is "circumstantial evidence" implicating Miranda as the Senate employee who gave the confidential documents to an activist, who allegedly leaked them to the news media...
cont.
http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003445.html
Jason Lundell was the guy who actually pilfered the memos, but Manuel Miranda was the ringleader of the affair. Miranda knew that Lundell had already been told not to use Democratic material, but:
Mr. Miranda's response, according to Mr. Lundell, was that everyone knew about the open access and that he did not have to follow the directions given to him by [his boss]. Furthermore, Mr. Lundell recalled that Mr. Miranda told him that Senator Hatch wanted the staff to use any means necessary to support President Bush's nominees.
What a sweetheart. He seems to have mistaken Orrin Hatch's version of "any means necessary" with Tony Soprano's.
The Republican's are pissed... as is the right's hit squad.
Many many republican's got their hands on the Democrats memos... and they forwarded them to their favorite conservative groups and reporters.
That's all going to be out in the open.