The law prohibits the use of FBI records by the Whitehouse unless necessary to complete the investigation of an individual seeking employement within the administration. This law was clearly violated in this case. The only other time this was known to happen was during the Nixon administration where one staff member viewed a single file and was sent to jail. Subsequent investigation resulted in the conclusion that dozens of staff members, including interns, had access to and did access those records.

President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton refers to this as "...a completely honest bureaucratic snafu...". However, the Whitehouse placed Craig Livingstone (campaign operative sometimes rumored to be "butt man"), who was in charge of Whitehouse security, on leave and a week later he resigned.

Adding to the confusion is that nobody within the administration can determine who had hired Livingstone. This came to light when it was discovered that his only prior experience for Whitehouse security was as a bouncer in an Arkansas nightclub.

In a subsequent television program George Stephenopolous indicated that the Whitehouse may use the data gathered from those FBI files as part of a scorched earth policy against Congress. In essence "come after me and I'll air every little thing even rumored to an FBI agent during a background investigation".

This sounds almost impossible to believe in 1996 America. It sounds like something the Soviet Union, via the KGB, would have been doing twenty-five years ago. This case deserves special attention because of the significance of the right to privacy of the man ordinary citizens who may have had their personal lives violated by the Whitehouse. Perhaps Bill Clinton's visit to Moscow and subsequent tour by a Czech Communist Party Chairman during the 1970's influenced his view of the operation of government. Or perhaps it really was an accident that over 900 requests for background files were just a snafu.

This document subject to change without notice - in order to better communicate my message.