By Facsimile Transmission and Overnight Mail
The Honorable George J. Tenet
The Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20505
Re: United States v. CTRI Daniel
M. King, USN Dear Sir:
On March 6, 2001, I sent you a
letter detailing on-going national security violations in the
above referenced case. I am sending a follow-up to inform you that,
after this letter was sent, new violations of national security were
discovered in the case. Given the gravity and scope of these
violations, I felt that I should immediately inform you of the
latest disclosures, which were recorded for transcription in the
case. Once again, my co-counsel LT Robert Bailey and LT Matthew
Freedus concur in this letter and the requested intervention.
[As of] Yesterday, a large amount of
previously unclassified material is in the process of [being]
collected due to the discovery of the defense that the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) now considered information in
the documents to be classified. This information includes facts that
have been widely revealed by named and unnamed Navy officials in the
media. The parties have been instructed to collect virtually all of
the unclassified documents, files, and material in the case for yet
another classification review.
Additionally, over the last week, the
defense was able to question one of the security officials mentioned
in the March 6, 2001 letter. In her cross-examination, Ms. Mary Rose
McCaffrey made a series of startling admissions under oath that
further established the widespread violation of national security
rules and procedures by government officials in this case. First,
Ms. McCaffrey admitted to a host of "serious" violations that she
and her staff have committed over the course of the litigation. She
specifically admitted that her staff committed at least seven
different categories of violations that cover the full range of
possible national security breaches. Second, Ms. McCaffrey admitted
that she and her staff have committed acts that warrant a review for
possible revocation of their clearances. Third, Ms. McCaffrey
admitted to serious violations of her own and demonstrated on the
stand an astonishing lack of knowledge of her own programs and
procedures. Ms. McCaffrey could not identify program information in
documents reviewed previously and admitted that she has repeatedly
failed to properly identify, mark, and maintain classified
information under her control and supervision. For example, Ms.
McCaffrey was given her own short affidavit in the case which she
has reviewed numerous times after basic mistakes were found as to
the meaning of programs under her supervision. Ms. McCaffrey has had
to issue and re-issue the same affidavit to correct extensive
mistakes and, while on the stand, she was shown additional errors in
such program markings requiring a third version to be prepared. Ms.
McCaffrey also admitted that she does not even know the meaning of
words that she previously stated under oath were classified program
terms (including terms that are entirely unclassified). Finally, Ms.
McCaffrey admitted to giving false statements under oath and
specifically retracted a variety of prior sworn statements. The
military judge serving as the Investigating Officer dismissed Ms.
McCaffrey as a witness before voir dire was completed as clearly
incompetent to serve as a witness on the programs under her
supervision. The judge stated that he was confidant that the defense
would be able to show numerous other errors in all of the documents
reviewed by Ms. McCaffrey. Thus, the most senior security official
for these programs has been found unacceptable as a witness to
actually identify material in her respective programs.
The testimony in the last few days
can only be described as chilling. While we are taking steps to have
this case dismissed due to constitutional violations, we renew our
request for immediate intervention and inquiry into these on-going
violations. Ms. McCaffrey admitted on the stand that no one has made
an independent inquiry into these violations. In fact, even with
regard to her own limited inquiry, Ms. McCaffrey admitted that she
relied only on the accounts of security officers accused for the
violations and not other independent security officers who witnessed
the violations. As a result, Ms. McCaffrey admitted that she was not
even informed of some of the most "serious" violations by these
security officers.
I ask that you include this
information in your review of matters detailed in my March 6, 2001
letter. I also ask that you immediately order the expedited
completion of the transcript in this case to allow for a review of
past admissions and sworn statements relating to these violations.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Turley
Defense Counsel for Petty Officer Daniel King
cc:
The Hon. Donald Rumsfeld
The Hon. Robert B. Pirie, Jr.
RADM Donald Guter
VADM Mobley
CAPT McPherson
CDR Newcomb
CDR Sundel
CDR Winthrop
CDR Jowers
LT Bailey
LT Freedus
CTR1 King
Members of Congress