The Clinton legal war is failing. The president and his Interior

Secretary have both been cited in "contempt" of Federal Court. Former

DNC fundraiser and secret cleared Commerce employee, John Huang cited

his "Fifth" Amendment rights, refusing to testify before Larry Klayman

of Judicial Watch.

However, Mr. Clinton now faces a new scandal -- registered foreign

agents in secret meetings at the White House on super-computers for

Russian nuclear weapons labs. The new scandal is quaintly dubbed

"Computer-Gate."

In 1994, a consortium of U.S. computer companies, the Computer

Systems Policy Project (CSPP) was represented by Tony Podesta, brother

of White House official John Podesta. Tony Podesta obtained special

powers for his CSPP U.S. computer CEOs. They were allowed to attend

secret meetings inside the White House. The meetings were on computer

hardware and software exports to China and Russia.

The CSPP is a group of computer companies, that in 1995 included

Apple, AT&T, Compaq, Cray, Data General, Digital Equipment,

Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Silicon Graphics, Stratus Computer, Sun

Microsystems, Tandem and Unisys.

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One key Commerce Department document described a 1995 closed meeting

in the White House that included CEOs from the CSPP companies and two

DNC donors: Ken Kay, a Podesta Associates employee and Charles Levy, an

employee of the lobby firm Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. Most of the

documentation on this and several more CSPP secret meetings inside the

White House are being withheld as classified by the Commerce Department.

The secret CSPP/White House meetings included registered foreign

agents. In 1994 and 1995, CSPP Director and DNC donor Ken Kay was an

employee of Podesta Associates. According to the February 1994

Department of Justice Foreign agent index, Tony Podesta and Podesta

Associates registered as an "agent" of a unspecified foreign nation. In

fact, Podesta Associates also registered a second time in April 1994 as

a "foreign agent" for a company located in Chile.

In addition, according to the Department of Justice 1995 Foreign

agent index, Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering was also registered as a

"foreign agent." In 1995, Charles Levy, CSPP lawyer, DNC donor and

employee of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering attended the secret meeting at

the White House. At the same time their employee was in the White House,

the powerful law firm also represented a bank in Bermuda, the Banking

Federation of the European Union and the Swiss Bankers Association.

Under the Clinton administration, registered foreign agents obtained

secrets that cannot be revealed to the American public. What kind of

secrets?

According to a May 1995 CSPP letter to Ron Brown "all references and

terminology in the U.S. export regulation ... should be eliminated,

including all references to 'supercomputers' and 'statement on security

procedures.'"

Another clue is a November 1995 CSPP letter to Ron Brown that states

"we want to express our great appreciation for your role in the

President's recent decision to significantly reform computer export

controls."

Within weeks of the November 1995 CSPP thank-you to Ron Brown,

Russian and Chinese weapons labs bought CSPP computers for nuclear

weapons research.

In April 1999, this reporter filed suit against the Commerce

Department, seeking documents on the Computer Systems Policy Project

(CSPP). The suit, 3:99cv280, is expected to be reviewed by Richmond

District Federal Judge Richard Williams.

The FOIA lawsuit includes some 27 examples supporting the claim that

the Clinton administration is illegally withholding responsive

documents. Of the 27 examples, 26 are from the White House, the CSPP,

Commerce, Podesta Associates and the powerful law firm of Wilmer,

Cutler, and Pickering.

Even more astonishing, according to the Commerce Department, neither

John nor Tony Podesta exist. In March 1999, Commerce replied to twin

Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests on John Podesta and his brother

Tony Podesta. The official Commerce response claims for the Podesta

brothers is that an "extensive search" produced "no" responsive

documents.

Obviously, the Commerce Department reply is false. John Podesta has

held various positions inside the White House since January 1993 and

openly met with Commerce officials. The Commerce Department has

previously supplied this reporter several documents involving Commerce

officials and White House advisor John Podesta.

For example, one document is a 1993 letter from Trusted Information

Systems (TIS) President Stephen T. Walker. The letter was returned from

the files of Ron Brown by Commerce in response to a FOIA on Clinton

computer security policy. The TIS CEO letter is addressed to the

Commerce Dept. Director, at the NIST (National Institute for Standards

and Technology) Computer Systems Laboratory and "cc'd" to "John

Podesta."

In fact, hand written notes on the 1993 TIS letter were withheld

(blacked-out) by the Commerce Department.

More alarming for the White House is another 1994 computer security

document found in the files of former Deputy Attorney General Webster

Hubbell. The Hubbell document describes a secret 1994 White House

meeting where "Podesta legislation" was one of several computer industry

topics.

The Hubbell document clearly links the former Whitewater partner and

John Podesta in secret computer export policy. Al Gore, Webster Hubbell,

John Podesta, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Ron Brown attended the 1994

White House meeting. Secret meetings that include a convicted felon and

the former member of the Rose office law firm of Hillary Clinton.

Computer-Gate involves serving officials inside the Clinton

administration other than John Podesta and Webster Hubbell. Other

Clinton officials such as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and Commerce

undersecretary for Export Administration, William Reinsch, were both

involved in CSPP meetings that are now classified.

Computer-Gate also includes some of the most rich and powerful in the

U.S. computer industry DNC donor lists. The 1995 secret meeting included

James Unruh of Unisys, Michael Spindler of Apple, Robert Allen of AT&T,

Eckhard Pfeiffer of Compaq, John

Carlson of Cray, Ronald Skates of Data General, Robert Palmer of Digital

Equipment, Lewis Platt of Hewlett-Packard, Edward McCraken of Silcon

Graphics, William Foster of Straus Computer, and Scott McNeally of Sun.

The Computer-Gate legal battles for Clinton have just begun. The FOIA

lawsuit for Computer-Gate includes a request to bring in all the

witnesses for testimony under oath. The request includes Commerce, White

House and CSPP officials such as the computer company executives who

attended the secret meetings.

Yet, there is another legal D-Day that is quickly approaching for the

White House. Clinton faces another loss in the China-Gate scandal.

Friday, April 23, 1999, is the last day for the Commerce Department to

surrender documents on meetings with the Chinese Army, as per the order

issued by Federal Judge Robert Payne. At the date of this writing, no

such documentation has been turned over.

The Secretary of Commerce may wish to acquire a Federal contempt

order for refusing to turn over documents legally demanded by a Federal

Court order. It is quite possible that Commerce Secretary Daley would

rather be held in violation of the law rather than turn over the

incriminating documents. In fact, a contempt charge might be a badge of

honor for Secretary Daley, since both his commander and a fellow cabinet

member share such a charge.

No honest business will deal with a known criminal. In the world of

inter-national commerce, a Federal contempt charge against Secretary

Daley could taint the U.S. Department of "Commerce" into

self-destruction. The Commerce Dept. may yet become the first real

casualty of Mr. Clinton's real war.