'The fix is in' on e-mail fix? Contractor hired to 'restore' records employs 2 senior Clinton officials -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Paul Sperry © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON -- In what looks like a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house, some of the same White House officials who allegedly "dragged their feet" in restoring missing West Wing e-mail are now working for a firm hired last week by the White House to restore the same subpoenaed e-mail for Congress. One was a special aide to President Clinton. Another official just two months ago headed the White House technology office that was supposed to be finding ways to restore the back-up tapes of the unrecorded e-mail all along. Both officials are known by White House insiders to have "worked closely" with Mark Lindsay, Clinton's assistant for management and administration, as well as Lindsay's predecessor, Virginia "Ginny" Apuzzo. Lindsay is a central figure in the mushrooming e-mail scandal known as Project X. Six Northrop Grumman computer contractors, including the program manager, have testified that Lindsay ordered the contractors to keep quiet about Project X. Four of the six said they felt threatened. White House Counsel Beth Nolan last week assured the House Government Reform Committee that the administration would find missing e-mail under subpoena within six months. She testified that the White House Office of Administration had "contracted with a private entity" to "restore the backup tapes" of unrecorded e-mail so that they can be searched for compliance with subpoenas in several ongoing investigations of the White House. She said searches could start as early as October -- just before the November election. But she was quick to add that the date is "subject to amendment as the project proceeds." That is, it could be later. During the hearing, White House Counsel's Office spokesman Jim Kennedy told WorldNetDaily that there are actually two private contractors -- ECS Technologies and Systems Research and Applications Corp. (or SRA International), both based in Virginia. The two former White House officials -- Dorothy "Dotty" Cleal and John Dankowski -- are now both employed by SRA, which is the subcontractor for the $3 million job. Cleal was associate director of the Office of Administration's Information Systems and Technology (IST) division. That office manages the White House computer systems, including its e-mail operations. Cleal left her job in January, according to Christa Moyle, aide to new IST director Leanna Terrel. It was in February that the government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed affidavits in U.S. District Court that made public for the first time the Project X scandal. News broke shortly after. Dankowski left his White House job in September, the White House says. He was special assistant to the president and director of White House operations, an office that is under Lindsay's Office of Management and Administration. It was in September that White House whistle-blower Sheryl Hall, who was an Information Systems and Technology manager for seven years, quit her White House job and started preparing sworn affidavits about Project X for Judicial Watch. A former White House official says both Cleal and Dankowski "dragged their feet" on plans to recapture more than two years worth of White House e-mail that was found missing by Northrop Grumman contractors in June 1998. Top White House officials knew about the problem as early as January 1998, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. But they never informed Congress, independent counsels or Judicial Watch of the gap in potential evidence. Asked to comment on the apparent conflict of the White House hiring a firm employing former White House officials, a spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee said the panel's staff attorneys will look into the development. "It raises questions as to the manner in which the White House is seeking to fix this problem," said spokesman Mark Corallo. "Here's a case where the White House has gone to the revolving door method" to possibly delay turning over the subpoenaed records. "It's impossible to give the White House the benefit of the doubt anymore," Corallo added. "Just saying they have someone to fix the problem doesn't satisfy anyone." ECS, the general contractor on the e-mail restoration job, hired SRA. It's not clear if ECS has ever done business with Fairfax, Va.-based SRA before, or if the White House merely suggested SRA to help on the job. No one answers ECS' main phone number during business hours. Callers hear only a generic phone message that leaves out even the company's name. According to sources, ECS is a young, minority-owned small business. As a so- called "8A vendor," it did not have to bid for the White House contract -- which is how the White House was able to hire a contractor so soon after the scandal broke in the press. It's also not clear if Springfield, Va.-based ECS has any computer-forensics experience, particularly in reconstructing and restoring back-up tapes. Nor is it clear if it employs any contractors with White House security clearance, which usually takes months to obtain. "They're not small business," said a former White House official who dealt with computer contractors. "They're smaller than small." SRA spokeswoman Laura Luke told WorldNetDaily she cannot talk about the company's e-mail contract with the White House. Inside job on e-mail Search project's lead contractor says White House matched him with SRA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Paul Sperry © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON -- The White House has allayed Congress' concerns about missing e- mail by turning over the e-mail search project to a third party -- an "independent" and "private" contractor. What the White House hasn't said is it's still calling the shots. In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily, the president and chief executive of the general contractor for the e-mail restoration job says the White House matched him with a subcontractor that employs former White House officials. Also, the general contractor himself worked in the White House -- under an official that a House committee has recommended the Justice Department investigate for perjury in the mushrooming e-mail scandal. In fact, he lists him as his top reference. Tung Q. "Eric" Duong, head of lead contractor ECS Technology Inc., says he found out about subcontractor SRA International for the first time in a White House meeting "a couple of weeks ago." "I just only know SRA about couple weeks ago," Duong, who speaks slightly broken English, told WorldNetDaily yesterday. Duong (pronounced Young) is a U.S. citizen. What led you to pick SRA as your subcontractor? "The government," Duong replied. The White House? "Yeah." As reported in Tuesday's edition of WorldNetDaily, SRA employs at least two former senior White House officials who allegedly "dragged their feet" in restoring missing White House e-mail under subpoena by several investigative bodies, White House insiders say. Dorothy "Dotty" Cleal was associate director of the Office of Administration's Information Systems and Technology unit, which manages the White House computer systems, including e-mail archiving. Cleal left her post in January and hired on with SRA. The other ex-official working for SRA is John Dankowski, who was President Clinton's special assistant and director of White House operations. He left the White House in September. Sources say both officials "worked closely" with Mark Lindsay, Clinton's assistant and director of management and administration, as well as Lindsay's predecessor, Virginia "Ginny" Apuzzo. Six Northrop Grumman computer contractors have testified that Lindsay ordered them to keep quiet about the e-mail records gap, known inside the White House as "Project X." Four of the six said they felt threatened. A House committee investigating Project X says it will ask the White House for more details about the new contract by Friday. And a public-interest law firm suing the White House says it plans to file a complaint about the new contract in federal court. As a so-called 8(a) minority-owned small business, ECS did not have to bid for the White House contract -- which is how the White House was able to hire a new contractor so soon after the e-mail scandal broke in the press. The Small Business Administration lists ECS' minority status as "Asian/Pacific- American." SRA didn't have to bid on the job, either, because the general contractor hires subs. As it turns out, ECS hired SRA at the White House's urging. The SBA profile on ECS shows it had sales of just $150,000 last year. The company, which recently moved its office from Fairfax, Va., to Springfield, Va., employs just three, including Duong. It's a subchapter S corporation and has been in business since 1996. Normally, the general contractor has more overall experience than the subcontractor. Not in this case. In fact, Duong sounds as if he'll be taking direction from Fairfax, Va.-based SRA, even though ECS has majority control of the $3 million project. "I'd like to have SRA as my mentor," he told WorldNetDaily. The White House told Congress it will take six months, or maybe longer, to track down all the omitted e-mail, even though computer-forensic experts tell WorldNetDaily it's really a weeks-long job. Asked if he has any experience restoring and reconstructing computer back-up tapes, Duong said only that he worked in the White House as a subcontractor for computer contractors Northrop Grumman and its predecessor Planning Research Corp. The subcontractor was his own firm, then called Enterprise Computing Solutions. On his SBA form, Duong lists as his top reference White House computer specialist Daniel A. Barry -- the same White House official who House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., last month recommended the Justice Department investigate for perjury. Burton claims Barry lied in a sworn affidavit submitted on behalf of the White House in Judicial Watch, Inc.'s Filegate suit. The 1999 affidavit signed by Barry declared that White House e-mail "has been archived." Northrop Grumman technicians found a two-year e-mail gap in June 1998. A Burton spokesman says that, by Friday, the panel will send questions to the White House Counsel's Office to explain their selection of the new contractors. Panel member Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., says he's disturbed by the news. "I'm very concerned by (WorldNetDaily) reports that former White House employees are still in a position to cover up e-mail in private-sector roles," Barr said in an interview. "These latest reports cast further doubt on the administration's terrible record of providing subpoenaed materials," added Barr, a member of Burton's House panel. "Sadly, this White House has refined obstruction of justice to an art form." Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman was livid over the news and says it's more reason for U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth to take action to secure the White House evidence. "It's quite clear that unless we can get Judge Lamberth to seize this evidence, it will be destroyed," said Klayman, who plans to submit the WorldNetDaily articles to the court as exhibits. WorldNetDaily has also learned that SRA does a lot of contract work involving national security-related data. Former White House computer chief Dotty Cleal is now SRA's director of Navy programs.