Henry A. Waxman, chair of the committee on oversight and government reform at the Congress of the United States, is requesting that Andrew H.Card, Jr., former White House chief of staff, appear before the committee. The issue in question is, as Mr. Waxman phrases it in the conclusion of his written request, a “systemic neglect of the basic rules for protecting [US] national security secrets”.
According to the five-page letter, the White House regularly ignored security breaches. As an example, a junior White House aide has reported that a senior assistant to the president improperly disclosed sensitive compartmented information (SCI - the highest level of security classification) to him, even though he had no security clearance. The White House security office is said to have taken no steps to investigate that matter. Also, White House officials have allegedly blocked security inspections of the White House west wing, where, among others, the offices of the president’s top advisors are located.
The letter also purports that the director and deputy director of the White House security office habitually violate basic security guidelines by bringing Blackberry devices and cell phones into areas where such devices are prohibited, and by allowing others, such as visiting personnel, to do the same. Furthermore, the deputy director is alleged to have improperly placed classified information on an insecure computer. According to the letter, bad examples such as these caused extreme frustration and plummeting morale, and resulted in the departure of more than half of the White House security officers within the year 2006.
Unless Mr. Card voluntarily appears before the committee, he will apparently be issued a subpoena compelling him to attend a committee hearing.
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