Source: Pentagon reports 'no damage' from Deutch lapse

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Military Affairs Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon has found that there was no damage to U.S. national security despite extensive computer security violations by former CIA chief John M. Deutch, Defense Department sources told CNN Tuesday.

"There was no evidence found of any compromise of national security," said a senior Pentagon official familiar with the findings of the investigation.

The Pentagon's inspector general last November sharply criticized Deutch for storing classified material on a laptop he used at home to access America Online.

The Defense Department focused on Deutch time at the Pentagon as defense undersecretary for acquisitions and technology beginning in April 1993, and then as deputy defense secretary from March 1994 until he was tapped to head the CIA in 1995.

A follow-up investigation has concluded that despite the mishandling of classified material, there is no evidence any sensitive information fell into unauthorized hands.

The report effectively closes the book on the case, because Deutch was a recipient of one of the 140 pardons that former President Clinton granted on his last day in office.

The Pentagon reported last year that while he was deputy defense secretary, Deutch maintained a daily journal containing classified information that was almost 1,000 pages long on a government laptop that was also used by Deutch and members of his family to access his AOL account.

At that time the Pentagon's inspector general called that "an extremely risky practice" because a computer hacker could have gained online access to Deutch's computer and information stored on the hard drive.

The CIA inspector general conducted a separate investigation in July 1999, which resulted in CIA director George Tenet revoking Deutch's security clearance.

Deutch, who headed the CIA from May 1995 to December 1996, is currently a chemistry professor at MIT.

Clinton's final day includes pardons, new monument and note for his successor
January 20, 2001
Ex-CIA chief won't answer questions about missing disks
October 10, 2000
Pentagon continues to investigate ex-CIA director Deutch
September 16, 2000

Central Intelligence Agency
National Security Agency
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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