Pentagon Slow to Probe Deutch’s Security Breach

The Pentagon was alerted in the summer of 1998 that former CIA Director John M. Deutch downloaded defense secrets to unsecured personal computers and was urged to assess the damage. But documents show it waited until last February to begin investigating.

Among those who were told that the CIA was recommending a Pentagon damage assessment was Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a spokesman for Cohen, said the secretary did not act in 1998 because the Pentagon was “not in possession of any documentation from the CIA’s investigative efforts.” He said that when information was turned over last February, Cohen “turned right around” and ordered the probe now underway.

The Pentagon documents, obtained by Associated Press, show that in 1998 Cohen was at least informed by his inspector general that the CIA had evidence that Deutch downloaded defense secrets to personal computers.

Cohen finally ordered a review in February when he said information was received by the Pentagon “for the first time.”

In the July 1998 memo to Cohen and his top deputy, acting inspector general Donald Mancuso wrote, “The CIA believes it may be necessary for [the Department of Defense] to conduct an assessment of any possible security compromises identified in their investigation.”

The memo said the CIA was “investigating allegations that Mr. Deutch created and maintained highly classified and compartmentalized documents and journals on a number of computers, including personal computers at his homes in Maryland and Massachusetts.”

The computers “were regularly used” in conjunction with Deutch’s America Online Internet account and “may have been used to transfer such information without regard to security procedures,” the 1998 memo said.

Efforts to reach Deutch and his attorney for comment were not immediately successful.

Last Feb. 9, Cohen sent the Pentagon’s general counsel and the inspector general a memo that confirmed “oral instructions” provided two days earlier.