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GAO-01-737R 1 (2001-06-12)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaltg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 June 12, 2001 The Honorable Edward J. Markey House of Representatives Subject: DOD Officials Acted in Accordance With Executive Order for Addressing Security Classification Concerns Dear Mr. Markey: This letter responds to your request that we investigate whether the Department of Defense (DOD) misused the security classification process to stifle public discussion of possible problems with the National Missile Defense system. Your concern was the result of events that started with a May 11, 2000, letter that Dr. Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote to John Podesta, the then White House Chief of Staff. That letter alleged scientific fraud by contractors involved in developing the National Missile Defense system for DOD's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and included Dr. Postol's analysis of public data on the National Missile Defense system and extracts from documents he used to reach his conclusion. When Dr. Postol learned unofficially that BMDO was classifying his May 11 letter, he wrote a second letter to Mr. Podesta, dated May 19, 2000, in which he complained that the classification was an attempt to restrict his public exposure of scientific fraud. A third letter from Dr. Postol to Mr. Podesta dated June 21, 2000, described how three Defense Security Service investigators made an unscheduled visit to his office in what he characterized as an attempt to intimidate him and violate his First Amendment rights. Dr. Postol said they told him that DOD was concerned that some of the information contained in the May 11 letter was classified. We conducted our investigation between July and September 2000 in accordance with investigative standards established by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. We reviewed pertinent documentation and interviewed Dr. Postol and representatives of BMDO and Department of Justice. We also interviewed representatives of DOD's Office of the Inspector General; Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Office of Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence; and Defense Security Service. We briefed your office on the results of our investigation. In addition, we are currently conducting a separate review of the allegations concerning scientific fraud. In brief, DOD's actions included performing a security classification review and determining that portions of the documentation enclosed with Dr. Postol's GAO-01-737R DOD Security Classification

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