Loose lips: the Clinton Administration values peacekeeping over Keeping American secrets secret - lax United Nations intelligence security

National Review, March 11, 1996 by Mark Levin

For months the Clinton Administration has been downplaying serious leaks of U.S. secrets by the United Nations, while resisting congressional efforts to do something about them. The public record is littered with such intelligence breaches. For instance, on March 12, 1995 The Washington Post reported 'Several boxes containing classified U.S. intelligence documents were discovered by U.S. officials in a vacant United Nations office in Somalia days before the pullout of UN peacekeepers early this month, prompting some U.S. officials to question whether the international organization has mishandled sensitive U.S. secrets. . . Included in the boxes were 'source reports' recounting sensitive interviews with Somali informers, daily intelligence reports on the Somali political situation, classified data designated 'UN-releasable,' some computer diskettes, and documents stamped 'Secret Wintell' that involved highly sensitive U.S. sources and spying methods, according to a U.S. official.'

Given the substantial increase in U.S. intelligence sharing with the UN, congressional Republicans are pushing for legislation requiring a formal agreement between the U.S. and the UN spelling out the conditions under which U.S. secrets would be provided to the UN. Provisions include procedures to limit access to this information and prevent unauthorized disclosures. After all, the United Nations' membership includes such anti-American terrorist states as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Cuba.

Although the Clinton Administration pays lip service to intelligence concerns, UN Ambassador Madeline Albright and other senior officials have aggressively fought the imposition of real intelligence-sharing restrictions. They fear an end to UN - U.S. 'peacekeeping' initiatives. More fundamentally, the Clinton Administration is not about to let the unauthorized disclosure of U.S. intelligence information derail its efforts to use the United Nations as a cheap substitute for the United States military.

Sadly, the Administration has found sympathetic ears in two gadfly senators who hold key positions on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- Chairman Arlen Specter and Vice-Chairman Bob Kerrey. This committee has done little to police known UN intelligence violations.

Surprisingly, one of the loudest voices in the Senate demanding answers is liberal freshman Republican Olympia Snowe. Last March, at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Snowe told Ambassador Albright the UN had breached U.S. intelligence four times in the last two years. Moreover, Reuters reported that Sen. Snowe charged that ''career intelligence analysts' who had disagreed with policies on turning over classified information to the United Nations 'have been removed' and replaced by political appointees.' The Clinton Administration is undermining its own intelligence advice to accommodate the UN.

An internal Administration memorandum dated September 26, 1995, which is believed to have been written by a political appointee at the Pentagon, demonstrates the Clinton Administration's contempt for those who question its intelligence-sharing activities. The document -- entitled 'PCG (Peacekeeping Core Group) Issue/Information Paper' -- states, in part, the following:

'The foreign affairs committees, particularly SFRC (Senate Foreign Relations Committee), have been motivated by partisan politics and ideology. Intelligence sharing is merely another hook on which they have been able to hang their anti-UN hats. The intelligence committees have taken a more sober approach to this issue, seeking to head off any future 'Mogadishus,' although their activity has been driven by their foreign affairs colleagues. Because the intelligence committees operate in secret, they have not been forced into the same rhetorical posture as the foreign relations committee.'

'The primary driver of this issue is Senator Olympia Snow [sic] (R., Maine). She was the ranking Republican (Vice-Chair) of the House intelligence committee last year, and has sought to milk this issue for all its worth during her nine months as a freshman Senator.'

The Information Paper continues, 'The IC (intelligence community) may be meeting the letter of the law regarding congressional consultation and notification. However, the Administration needs to go-the-extra-mile to inoculate peacekeeping policy attacks fueled by intelligence-sharing concerns on the Hill. Intelligence is a canard being used to gut peacekeeping: we should be coordinating more closely to avoid creating opportunity for ad hominem attacks.'

Note this remarkable memorandum says nothing about the dangers when national-security secrets are made available to our enemies. Nothing.

If the Clinton officials in charge of keeping U.S. secrets do not take their task seriously, it is time for Senator Specter to hold public hearings. Perhaps the individuals who have filled the following posts from 1993 to present should be asked to testify: Director of Central Intelligence, Executive Director of the CIA, Deputy Director for Intelligence, Chief of the Office of European Analysis, Division Chief -- West European Division, Branch Chief, United Nations Analyst.