Who Hired Mr. Livingstone?
By
John H. Fund
Updated June 21, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET
Craig Livingstone, the former bar bouncer who became President Clinton's head of White House Security, has been replaced for improperly obtaining confidential FBI files. Chief among the trail of unanswered questions Mr. Livingstone leaves behind is: Who hired this character to oversee one of the most sensitive security operations in the country?
No one inside the Clinton White House will claim credit for hiring the bombastic Mr. Livingstone. Former White House FBI agent Gary Aldrich says that Hillary Rodham Clinton hand-picked Mr. Livingstone for the job. When asked about Mrs. Clinton's role in the hiring last week, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry would only say that he'd see if that information was "gettable."
(See
"Inside the White House File Scandal" 6/13/96)
White House aides called Mr. Livingstone the "Sheriff of Nottingham," as someone who would often exaggerate his role and influence. At other times he would complain that he had been sidelined in a dead-end job. When crossed he would sometimes hint darkly that he had read the security files of White House aides. Two White House aides say they are shocked to learn Mr. Livingstone let young interns with the lowest-level security clearances handle the sensitive FBI files and are worried that copies of the files of some Clinton aides could have been taken out of the building. FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene, who was assigned to the White House at the time, has testified that he once found the office where the files were kept unlocked and unattended.
What we've learned of the "Ex-Files" scandal so far should give any American the willies. Mr. Livingstone reported directly to former White House Associate Counsel William Kennedy, a former Rose Law Firm partner of Hillary Clinton who was responsible for the original misuse of the FBI in the Travel Office firings and was eventually forced to resign. It was Mr. Kennedy who requested that civilian Army gumshoe Anthony Marceca be detailed to the White House ostensibly to review "several hundred military personnel assigned to the White House." Instead, Mr. Marceca, a longtime Democratic political operative, was assigned by Mr. Livingstone to review the files of 408 Republican appointees for "derogatory" information.
Mr. Livingstone may also have played a role in the events surrounding the search of Vincent Foster's office. Secret Service officer Bruce Abbott told the Senate Whitewater Committee that he witnessed Mr. Livingstone and an unidentified man exiting the closest elevator to Foster's office carrying a briefcase and a box early on the morning after Foster's death. Mr. Livingstone has denied removing any boxes but he was clearly worried about the account. Dennis Martin, a Secret Service officer who said he had been "friendly" with Mr. Livingstone, has told congressional investigators that Mr. Livingstone called him at his home on a Sunday evening in February 1994 to ask him to identify which officer had seen him carrying boxes near Foster's office. Mr. Martin declined to say anything because he felt Mr. Livingstone's request was "inappropriate."
Mr. Livingstone's background is a colorful one. He did opposition research for Gary Hart's ill-fated 1984 presidential campaign, a job that former Hart campaign official
Dennis Casey says he abused. (David Cohen, a lawyer representing Mr. Livingstone, describes Mr. Casey's allegation as "total B.S.") He was director of security for the Clinton inauguration and worked closely with Clinton Hollywood pal Harry Thomason, the instigator of the Travel Office scandal. In fact, Mr. Livingstone told a reporter his next career goal was to become a Hollywood producer.
The White House's behavior in the FBI and Travel Office scandals would alone make a compelling movie. For three years now, the White House has done everything possible to avoid a full explanation of what happened. It was Rep. William Clinger's dogged determination that finally forced the White House to release 1,000 of the 3,000 pages it was withholding on the Travel Office firings. Clues found in those 1,000 pages led to the discovery of the White House's wholesale abuse of FBI files.
White House spokesman Mark Fabiani admits: "There's no question there are still unanswered issues" on the FBI files. That is why it is completely untenable for the White House to insist that executive privilege--a doctrine reserved for military or diplomatic secrets--can be cited to block release of the remaining 2,000 pages of Travel Office documents. Congress should immediately move to cite the White House for contempt if it continues to withhold files. Three years of evasions, half truths, sudden discoveries of documents and Mr. Livingstone's romp through explosive FBI files should tell us the Clinton White House no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
We may never know who hired Mr. Livingstone. But his modus operandi can no longer be dismissed as an aberration in an otherwise straightforward administration.
