Memogate
Revision as of 15:57, 28 April 2004 by Artificial Intelligence (talk | contribs)
Memogate, also being called Cybergate, is "the internal Senate investigation into whether Republican aides unethically (and perhaps illegally) tapped into Democratic computer files containing private judicial-nomination strategy memos and leaked them to the press." [1]
Associated Press writer Jesse J. Holland reported on April 26, 2004, that, on Monday, the Department of Justice asked, David N. Kelley, "the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York ... to investigate how Republicans got access to Democrats' computer memos in the Senate Judiciary Committee." [2]
Eric Lichtblau's April 27, 2004, New York Times article "Justice Dept. Opens Inquiry on Memo Theft" says that "The opening of the criminal inquiry increases the significance of the case, which has provoked open hostilities between Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in their continuing battle over President Bush's judicial nominations."
Neil A. Lewis, reporting for the March 5, 2004, edition of the New York Times wrote: [3]
- "For 18 months, at least two Republican Senate staff aides engaged in unauthorized and possibly illegal spying by reading Democratic strategy memorandums on a Senate computer system, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate sergeant-at-arms.
- "The 65-page report concluded that the two Republican staff aides, both of whom have since departed, improperly read, downloaded and printed as many as 4,670 files concerning the Democrats' tactics in opposing many of President Bush's judicial nominees. The report, the result of an investigation undertaken at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that many other Republican staff aides may have been involved in trafficking in the stolen documents."
SourceWatch Resources
External Links
Headlines
- 25 November 2003: "Orrin G. Hatch's Staff Stole Democratic Memos," LeftCoaster.
- 26 November 2004: "Hatch says he's 'shocked' at hacking of files. Sen Orrin Hatch has suspended a staffer" by Christopher Smith, The Salt Lake Tribune.
- 26 November 2003: "Orrin Hatch puts staffer on leave" by Jim Abrams, AP: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators. ... Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers."
- 22 January 2004: "Infiltration of files seen as extensive. Senate panel's GOP staff pried on Democrats" by Charlie Savage, Boston Globe.
- 23 January 2004 (Abstract): "Senate Inquiry Into Memos That Went Astray Nears End" by Neil A. Lewis, New York Times: "Senate sergeant-at-arms William Pickle says he is nearing end to investigation into how several confidential memorandums written by Democratic staff aides about dealing with judicial nominations ended up in hands of Republican staff members; Pickle began his probe after Democrats complained that their confidential memorandums were being stolen and distributed to conservative news outlets; Pickle says he will issue report to Judiciary Committee."
- 23 January 2004: "Globe, Too Hot; Times, Too Cold. Roll Call gets the stolen Democrat files scandal just right" by Jack Shafer, Slate.
- 24 January 2004: "Spying incident riles judiciary panel. Sergeant at Arms William Pickle is trying to determine who accessed parts of 15 memos dealing with Democratic strategy on judicial nominations" by Mary Curtius, Los Angeles Times.
- 26 January 2004: "Security breach on Capitol Hill: It's criminal" by Robert Vamosi, ZDNet.
- 9 February 2004: "The first fallout from Cybergate. Did Republican staffers commit a crime by clicking on the 'My Network Places' icon to access Democratic memos?" by Mark Rasch, Security Focus.
- 18 February 2004: "'Memogate' spurs bipartisan demand for Senate inquiry" by Helen Dewar, The Washington Post.
- 19 February 2004: "Memogate. The Judiciary Committee computer scandal is one gnarly sausage" by Dahlia Lithwick, Slate.
- 20 February 2004: "Sen. Orrin Hatch. If this conservative senator isn't safe from conservative attacks, is anyone?" by Michael Crowley, Slate.
- 4 March 2004: "About 4,700 Democratic Files Improperly Obtained" by Thomas Ferrano, Reuters.
- 5 March 2004: "Report Finds Republican Aides Spied on Democrats" by Neil A. Lewis, New York Times.
- 5 March 2004: "Senators Ponder How to Handle Memo Theft" by Jesse J. Holland, AP: "Democrats are calling for an outside investigation into the theft of memos from their computer files since a new report blames two Senate Republican staffers for the intrusion."
- 5 March 2004: "Hacking Incident Riles Democrats" by Mary Curtius, Los Angeles Times: Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle's "report, based on interviews with more than 160 staffers and others, says Manuel Miranda, who was a lawyer on the staff of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and Jason Lundell, a clerk working on judicial nominations on Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin G. Hatch's staff, pilfered the memos by entering the computer files of Democratic staff members. ... According to the report, more than 4,000 documents were copied beginning in 2001, when both men worked for Hatch (R-Utah), and continued for 18 months."
- 5 March 2004: "Probe finds ex-clerks on Hatch panel hacked files" by Christopher Smith, The Salt Lake Tribune: "A Utah clerk [Jason Lundell] on Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's Judiciary Committee staff secretly combed the confidential computer files of Democrats "on an almost daily basis," a Senate investigation has concluded. ... Manuel Miranda, another former Hatch staffer who resigned as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last month, acknowledged he accessed and read 'two or three' Democratic files. The SAA report says there is 'circumstantial evidence' implicating Miranda as the Senate employee who gave the confidential documents to an activist, who allegedly leaked them to the news media."
- 7 March 2004: "Talking Points Memo" by Josh Marshall: "As we've noted here at TPM a few times now, one of the questions coming out of the investigation into those pilfered Democratic Judiciary Committee staff memos is whether the GOP staffers in question shared the memos with colleagues at the Justice Department or the White House. ... We've now looked over the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms report on the matter issued last week. And it seems clear that his investigators were prevented from finding out whether or not this happened because of their lack of subpoena and other standard law enforcement powers."
- 17 March 2004: "Pickle to take memo report to Justice" by Alexander Bolton, The Hill: "Senate Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle said Tuesday that he would give his report on how Republican aides obtained internal Democratic Judiciary Committee memos to the Justice Department for a possible criminal prosecution."
