Four Senate Judiciary Computer Servers Seized In Memos Probe

[BuckeFushe]

Mon Nov 24 2003 09:49:17 ET

The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms took possession of the Judiciary Committee's four computer servers Friday and formally opened an investigation into how more than a dozen memos written by two Democratic Senators ended up in the hands of a pair of newspapers, ROLL CALL is reporting.

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Democrats suspect the memos, which detailed political strategy on how to block or delay confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominees, were stolen from the servers and subsequently given to The Wall Street Journal editorial page and The Washington Times.

Both newspapers published excerpts of the memos.

Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle said the four servers and computer backup tapes would be examined by an 'outside forensic team' to see if the memos were in fact stolen from the server. The Capitol Police secured the backup tapes last Monday at the request of the Judiciary Committee leadership after Democrats called for an investigation into their alleged theft."

Pickle, "the chief law enforcement official in the Senate, said he received a bipartisan directive from Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D- S.D.), Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and the panel's ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), to launch the investigation. ...

Pickle said he is not sure how long the investigation would take, but noted it would include using both the private forensic experts as well as internal resources to determine if the memos written to Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) by their respective staffs were stolen."

Developing...


Front page on Druge, Roll call. Interesting that the announcement was held up over the weekend.

[notadmblnd]

1. What they need to look at is the security logs

The system administrator and who logged in and when.

[BuckeFushe]

2. I'm sure that's the goal

No way to cover your tracks UNLESS someone had Administrative privilages. Will be very interesting. They are moving faster on this than on Plame probe.

[Fovea]

3. Are the SysAdmins govt employees

or private contractors?

I think a security audit for the whole Intranet would be a good idea. If someone has compromised THIS system, then nothing can be considered secure.

I said it before, and I will say it again...

Why doesnt someone teach the Dems how to use PGP?

[shawn703]

7. Depends on which server you're talking about

Some of it is handled by outside contractors, some of it is handled by the government employees. (At least in the House, it's that way.)

[htuttle]

10. Most of the computer networks in the Exec branch are run by DynCorp

Not sure who handles the network for the Senate -- probably DynCorp again.

[BuckeFushe]

13. DynCorp. not the most ethical of companies

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/163052.html

According to the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) lawsuit filed in Texas on behalf of the former DynCorp aircraft mechanic, "in the latter part of 1999 Johnston learned that employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and other immoral acts. Johnston witnessed coworkers and supervisors literally buying and selling women for their own personal enjoyment, and employees would brag about the various ages and talents of the individual slaves they had purchased."

http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6328

Dyncorp Rent-a-Cops May Head to Post-Saddam Iraq

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=121&contentid=745

UN Condones Dyncorp Sex Crimes & Sex Slavery

These scum are just another arm of BushCo. We should be very worried if they are in charge of the investigation.

[DUreader]

4. What are the odds that the 'independent' investigator will be SAIC?

Anyone making book on this?

[Snellius]

5. Maybe they'll find out the source of all the other leaks

Who leaked the Feith memo to Weekly Standard from the Senate Intelligence Committe?

[janx]

6. That's what I'm hoping.

Somebody has been sneaking around the Senate offices like a rodent. It's time we found out who it is.

I always thought that the Senate was the one place in the federal government that had some integrity. Maybe that's no longer true.

[BuckeFushe]

8. NO ONE in the Federal government has integrity

Except maybe the janitors. Sorry, same as saying military intelligence, not true.

[janx]

9. I see your point, but this one really stinks. Somebody was

sneaking around in offices, and parts of what were stolen wound up in the Moony Times and the editorial page of the WSJ?

Jeez.

[BuckeFushe]

11. This is war, and neither side follows rules of conduct

the Rethugs declared war in November 2000. It's obvious they are continuing their dirty tricks, and I cannot believe for one minute that this wasn't sponsored by them or one of their operatives.

[janx]

12. I think it was a coup between right wingnut government and

Sean Hannity. Hannity is such a clown that he wouldn't even realize he was being used.

Apparently he claims that a "Dem staffer" provided him with a memo from the Senate Intell Committee, when in fact the thing was a draft by a lower-level staffer. Nobody on the Senate had even read the thing--and who knows if they ever would have? It was a draft.

Besides, from what I read of that memo, it was only a proposal of how the Dems on the committee were trying to do their jobs.

I know less about the judicial memos, but I suspect it's about the same.

Some crazy has been sneaking around doing espionage in Senate offices. This has to be exposed.

[Occulus]

14. Hmmm.

Anyone else here wondering whether Watergate would involve computer files were it to happen today?

I think, if it is the Pubs doing this, well, it rises to that level.

[BuckeFushe]

15. Wonder what Hanninazi will have to say about it today?

:evilgrin: