Filegate unshredded - Bill Clinton White House FBI files scandal - Capital Scene - Column

National Review, July 15, 1996 by Rich Lowry

The Secret Service does produce a running list of names of White House passholders over the last eight years, but not only are the names on this list marked "active" or "inactive," it is roughly 24,000 names long. If the first 400-some names on the list had been taken, they would probably have been confined to the A's, rather than running from A through G, as Marceca's batch of Republicans does. Nor would working from this list explain discrepancies like the fact that James Cicconi appears on Marceca's list, while Andy Card, who had the same title and joined and left the White House at roughly the same time, does not. After two weeks of shifting White House explanations, Marceca's successor, Lisa Wetzl, is now telling the press that, actually, the outdated list left by Nancy Gimmell has been destroyed (too bad -- the best piece of exculpatory evidence somehow missing).

If, as seems clear, the list of GOP names didn't originate from the Secret Service, the first question is, Who compiled it, and for what reason? The next is, Who hired Livingstone, and were his superiors aware of what was going on in his office? Press reports have already established that Livingstone and Marceca are hardly above a scheme to spy on Republicans. Former Bush Administration counsel C. Boyden Gray testified before Clinger's committee that he got a queasy feeling every time he had to look at an FBI file, so sensitive is the information collected there. Livingstone's sensibilities were apparently rather different; according to a complaint filed with the Montgomery County police by a neighbor in 1993, the security maven threatened to "beat in" her face if she didn't keep her dog from barking. Livingstone fits perfectly the profile of a Clinton affirmative-action hire in the tradition of Webb Hubbell -- preference given to the ruthlessly political and ethically challenged, regardless of qualification.

WHO brought Livingstone on board is yet to be resolved, although speculation has ranged from former White House associate counsel William Kennedy to the late Vince Foster. Some Hill Republicans float the notion that he may have been hired at the insistence of Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton was responsible for most of the staffing in the White House Counsel's office -- of which the security office is a part -- and, considering her interest in all staffing decisions, would have paid particular attention to the person hired to vet White House employees. Livingstone would presumably have come to the attention of close Clinton friend Harry Thomason when he did security work for the Clinton inaugural, and his (according to one eyewitness) role in spiriting material from Foster's office in the aftermath of his suicide suggests he had the trust of his superiors. According to former FBI agent Gary Aldrich, it was at the behest of Mrs. Clinton that Livingstone and Co. embarked on their other rogue security project, unjustified investigations of permanent White House employees (for more on Aldrich see "The Week," page 12).