The following appeared in RISKS-FORUM Digest 23.26 (http://www.risks.org): Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 13:41:26 -0500 From: "James Bauman" <[email protected]> Subject: U.S. Senate security shenanigans If an independent or Justice Department investigation occurs beyond the one by the U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms, the security issues (and their possible accompanying illegal and/or unethical issues) should be interesting to read about. Right now, there are a lot of questions about the incident and not much clarity. According to a *Chicago Tribune* article, a Senate Republican clerk, Jason Lundell, watched a system administrator gain access to Democratic folders on a network. Then, Mr. Lundell, repeated the administrator's actions and "downloaded more than 4,670 files" from those folders. Lundell gave the files to Manuel Miranda, who was a staffer for Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). Lundell said "Miranda told him that it was common knowledge that staff could access each other's files". [Then, I suppose?... Republican staffers could access Democratic files and Democratic staffers the Republican ones.] A Question" If each side could look at each other's files, then why did Jason Lundell need special knowledge about network security to download the files? Regarding this: "Republican committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah condemned the actions of the staff members, who no longer work for the Senate." "'I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files occurred," Hatch said Thursday as he released the report. "There is no excuse that can justify these improper actions.'" Later in the article is this: "Furthermore, Mr. Lundell recalled that Mr. Miranda had told him that Sen. Hatch wanted the staff to use any means necessary to support President Bush's nominees," the sergeant-at-arms reported. Seems that the two Republican staffers took "any means necessary" in the most literal of senses, and Lundell's assertion in the previous paragraph could be an embarrassment for Hatch given Hatch's latest statements of outrage. Anyway, it's got the earmarks of a good future read as more facts develop and the smoke clears. Source: Kristina Herrndobler, GOP staffers accused of taking senators' files, *Chicago Tribune*, 5 Mar 2004 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi- 0403050231mar05,1,7561874.story?coll=chi-news-hed
