Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Fired official says her superior allowed search of Clinton Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 16:56:27 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Fired official says her superior allowed search of Clinton file \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS One of the State Department's top six political appointees was told about the search of Bill Clinton's passport files and allowed it to proceed, a source close to an inquiry into the matter said yesterday. John F.W. Rogers "basically said 'fine' and registered no objections" when a subordinate, Elizabeth M. Tamposi, briefed him about the Clinton file search as it was getting underway Sept. 30, said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Mrs. Tamposi has relayed this information to the State Department Inspector General's Office, which is looking into the pre-election search of Mr. Clinton's file, as well as those of his mother and of presidential candidate Ross Perot, added the source, who is close to Mrs. Tamposi. One Tamposi assistant, Carmen DePlacido, embarked on the hunt for Mr. Clinton's passport file without consulting Mrs. Tamposi and then informed her, the source said. Mrs. Tamposi talked to Mr. Rogers about it a few hours later, the source said. Mrs. Tamposi "felt obliged to tell Rogers exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it," the source said, adding that Mr. Rogers proposed no alternative and agreed with what was being done. The State Department has said that the search was prompted by requests from the news media under the Freedom of Information Act. It also has said that officials acted improperly by putting the requests for the Clinton records ahead of others. Mr. Rogers is the undersecretary of state for management. He worked in the Reagan White House and served as assistant secretary of the Treasury Department under James A. Baker III. But the New York Times quoted two persons it describes as having firsthand knowledge of the investigation as saying Mr. Rogers told investigators that Mrs. Tamposi "did not ask my approval, but informed me on the night of Sept. 30 that she was processing a Freedom of Information Act request that pertained to Mr. Clinton." Mrs. Tamposi was fired Tuesday as assistant secretary of state for consular affairs. The source also said that once the search at a National Archives warehouse in Suitland, Md., turned up the passport records the evening of Sept. 30, Mrs. Tamposi reviewed and kept the Clinton file overnight at her residence. She told the auditors she did so to keep the file secure after her aides expressed suspicions it had been tampered with. Her attorney, Thomas C. Green, said she had "the authority to possess and examine documents that were within the domain of her office." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM