Files Flap Brings Personnel Shift at White House

The White House abruptly reshuffled its personnel security office Monday in an apparent admission of serious management shortcomings in a unit that improperly obtained 408 FBI background files on high-level Republican officials and others.

White House officials said that they planned to install a new boss at a level above that of the current director, D. Craig Livingstone, who simultaneously asked for administrative leave pending investigations of the security office’s performance. The White House will study the office and weigh further changes, officials said.

The administration is trying to quell a political storm that has gathered strength in the weeks since disclosure that it obtained the files in late 1993 and early 1994. The revelation brought an outpouring of complaints about invasions of privacy and misuse of the FBI--not only from GOP critics but from FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.

The White House insisted that it has not shifted its fundamental view that the episode was the result of an innocent bureaucratic blunder. But a senior White House official said that installation of a new administrator of the three-person office would allow it to put in place new rules adopted last Friday to prevent future invasions of privacy.

A senior official said that the move would bring “some new blood to the office that will let us better carry out these tough new rules.”

He said that officials had “seen nothing that contradicts our view” on the cause of the episode. “But very clearly there’s a need for a more senior management structure at the office.”

In an interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live” program, Jack Quinn, the White House counsel, said that Livingstone had called him late Monday to ask for administrative leave. He will continue to draw pay.

Although the White House insisted that the change was not a disciplinary move, the installation of the new boss left Livingstone’s future role in doubt. And while the White House has continued to insist that it has reached no conclusions about anyone’s performance, there were signs of at least some dawning doubts.

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Mark D. Fabiani, associate White House counsel, said earlier Monday that it was “troubling” that the evidence available so far shows that Livingstone did not appear to have kept close control of his operation.

Quinn said that, although no decision had been made on what type of official should run the office, “the likelihood is that the restructuring will be made to ensure that career employees are operating this office.”

The new FBI rules require that all White House requests for FBI files be signed by the White House counsel, or a designated deputy. They must have the explicit consent of the person involved, with only a few exceptions.

The White House action represents the latest in a series of shifts on the issue, which began when a congressional committee demanded to know why the White House had obtained the file of fired travel office director Billy R. Dale seven months after he had left the administration.

The White House at first called the episode a simple management blunder. Two days later, Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta said that an apology was merited. Clinton joined in with his own apology several days later. And on Friday the White House counsel issued a new set of rules to prevent future abuses.

As the White House announced its latest move, congressional Republicans were raising increasing questions about whether Livingstone’s history as a political operative had made him the right person to head an office that handled thousands of dossiers with sensitive background information.

With congressional hearings on the files set for Wednesday, Republicans were asking whether their political work for several campaigns should have disqualified Livingstone and Anthony Marceca, the onetime aide who actually ordered the 408 files, from holding their posts.

“On its face, it’s troubling to have political operatives have access to information on people who may be potential adversaries,” said Ed Amerosi, spokesman for Rep. William F. Clinger (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

But McCurry said that the selection of officials with political backgrounds “has been the history of the office, to my understanding.”

Jane Dannenhauer, who ran the office during the Ronald Reagan administration and part of the George Bush administration, was also a political appointee. One former senior Bush administration official, however, said that she did not have a history of political campaign work. Dannenhauer could not be reached for comment.

Livingstone, a Pittsburgh native, and Marceca, of Meadville, Pa., knew each other from political work before Marceca was given a six-month assignment at the White House in the spring of 1993. According to some who know them, both shared a love of the undercover and security aspects of their White House work.

Both worked as Clinton campaign advance men in 1992 and for the vice presidential campaign of Al Gore. They also worked on the 1984 presidential campaign of former Colorado Democratic Sen. Gary Hart.

Livingstone got his White House job after impressing Clinton friend Harry Thomason with his work on the Clinton inauguration in 1993. He had worked earlier as a restaurant bouncer and said that he had held a public relations position at an Atlantic City casino.

Marceca once worked as a staff member on a congressional committee. He also had roles in the New Hampshire presidential primary campaigns of Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) and Vice President Walter F. Mondale in the 1980s. Since 1988, he has worked as an investigator at the Army Criminal Investigations Division.

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In another development, a non-government employee close to the case made available one page of a Feb. 16, 1994, Secret Service list of White House pass holders that appeared to support a White House claim that workers requesting the files were working from out-of-date lists supplied by the agency.

The page listed Reagan and Bush administration figure James A. Baker III twice, as well as two other individuals, Danica Bizic and Gary Robert Blumenthal, who were no longer with the White House in 1994. Baker was chief of staff for Reagan and secretary of state and, later, chief of staff under Bush.

Also Monday, Justice Department and FBI sources denied that the White House or the Justice Department had pressured Freeh to draw up the statement of “clarification” that he issued over the weekend.

In his original statement Friday, Freeh said: “The prior system of providing files to the White House relied on good faith and honor. Unfortunately, the FBI and I were victimized. I promise the American people that it will not happen again on my watch.”

The statement was widely read as a criticism of White House officials by the FBI director, an unusual step that Freeh’s clarification said was not intended.

“The FBI and I fell victim to my lack of vigilance and this failure to exercise proper management controls also affected the privacy rights of many persons,” the follow-up statement said. “I deeply regret those problems and pledge that they will not [recur]. . . . I have not reached any conclusions regarding the motivations of any White House employee.”

The clarification was issued, FBI sources said, after a reporter raised questions about Freeh’s original statement and Saturday newspaper coverage showed that others also had questions.