Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 06:32:20 -0600 From: "Howlin' Blue" <[l--oa--l] at [ICSI.Net]> To: restore our constitution <[r--c] at [xmission.com]> Subject: HRC and Livingstone FBI Agent Raises Questions About Security Office, Director By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter WASHINGTON -- An FBI agent who was, until two months ago, the top FBI agent working in the White House, has raised new questions about the White House's personnel security office and its director, Craig Livingstone. FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene, who was recently transferred from the White House to FBI's Washington field office, has told investigators for the Senate Judiciary Committee that he raised complaints with his superiors about the chaotic management of the personnel security office two years ago and that he also had suggested that the office be run in a nonpolitical manner. But Mr. Livingstone's hold on the job was secure because, the FBI agent said he was told, Mr. Livingstone's mother knew First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. A White House spokeswoman and a lawyer for Mr. Livingstone both deny that Mrs. Clinton knows Mr. Livingstone's mother. Mr. Sculimbrene doesn't know why he was transferred from his post at the White House. He is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over work assignments. During an unsworn interview June 19 with the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Sculimbrene alleged that Mr. Livingstone had some problems in his background had said some untrue things to the FBI when he underwent an investigation for security clearance. He didn't tell investigators what the alleged problems in Mr. Livingstone's background or untrue statements were. Despite having no background in law enforcement, Mr. Livingstone was given the job and approved for security clearance. Mr. Livingstone and an assistant improperly obtained FBI files on more than 400 people, including many Republicans. Congressional investigators and Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr are trying to determine whether the two men made an innocent mistake or were seeking to dig up dirt on political opponents. In private interviews with congressional investigators, Messrs. Livingstone and the assistant, Anthony Marceca, have said that the files were requested accidentally and weren't misused. Mr. Livingstone, who is on leave from the White House post, referred questions to his attorneys. Mr. Livingstone's lawyer, David Cohen, declined to discuss the background investigation of Mr. Livingstone. "Background investigations are private matters," he said. Slow Clearance Process Mr. Sculimbrene, who worked at the White House for a decade and has conducted numerous background probes of presidential appointees, described his experience with the Clinton administration in a two-hour interview with Senate investigators. The security office problems started early in the Clinton White House, Mr. Sculimbrene said. The clearance process was moving very slowly, and many people were walking around the complex without proper passes, he said. Mr. Sculimbrene and another FBI agent at the White House, Gary Aldrich, repeatedly complained to their superiors about problems, and at one point Mr. Sculimbrene said he suggested turning over the security office to a professional rather than a political appointee. In 1993, he thought he had a good candidate, Jackie Dinwiddie, who worked in the security office during the Carter administration. However, when he brought the idea to then-deputy White House counsel William Kennedy -- who has since resigned -- he says Mr. Kennedy told him that he was stuck with Mr. Livingstone. Mr. Sculimbrene told investigators that Mr. Kennedy knew there were problems in Mr. Livingstone's own background investigation, and another person familiar with the matter confirms this. Mr. Kennedy and his lawyer didn't respond to requests for comment. According to Mr. Sculimbrene, both Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Livingstone told him that Mr. Livingstone's mother knew Mrs. Clinton, which seemed to explain his standing. However, Mr. Sculimbrene said he has no independent knowledge of whether the two women actually knew one another and suggested that Mr. Livingstone may have made it up in an attempt to inflate his status or protect his job. Another person who worked with Mr. Livingstone confirms that Mr. Livingstone boasted of ties between his mother and Mrs. Clinton. 'An Absolute Fabrication' Mr. Cohen, Mr. Livingstone's lawyer, called this account "an absolute fabrication." White House officials said that Mr. Kennedy has denied telling Mr. Sculimbrene of any connection between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Livingstone's mother. Jane Sherburne, White House special counsel, said Mrs. Clinton denies knowing Mrs. Livingstone. Although Mr. Sculimbrene says his performance has been consistently rated as exceptional by the FBI, Senate investigators questioned him about events that could color his version of events. The FBI agent sustained a severe head injury two years ago that left him partly disabled, although he has returned to work. He is pursuing a discrimination complaint against the FBI, claiming he has been ordered to do work that contradicts his physician's recommendations. He said he is also under investigation for allegedly giving his son his government parking pass. Mr. Sculimbrene also said he worries that he may be suffering retribution from superiors because he testified on behalf of former travel office director Billy Dale at Mr. Dale's embezzlement trial last year. Mr. Dale was acquitted. The firing of Mr. Dale and the rest of the travel office in 1993 led to a congressional inquiry and eventually to the disclosure that the White House had improperly obtained Mr. Dale's FBI file, along with more than 400 others. Questions also were raised Monday about whether Messrs. Livingstone and Marceca also collected confidential Internal Revenue Service data. According to a letter sent Monday by Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, to FBI Director Louis Freeh, a box of documents removed from Mr. Livingstone's office by the FBI contained a folder full of papers bearing the IRS logo. Sen. Grassley asked the FBI director to describe what sort of documents are in the folder.