More Questions About Huang

By Kathleen Hayden/AllPolitics

WASHINGTON (July 16) -- Key witnesses appearing before the Senate campaign finance hearings on Wednesday raised serious questions about former Commerce Department official John Huang. Huang's former superior testified that Huang was "totally unqualified" for the job and should never have been given intelligence about China. But a CIA officer testified he briefed Huang 37 times on matters involving China.

And in testimony earlier in the day, a Commerce Department security official revealed that an overseas background check on Huang never took place before he was granted top-secret security clearance.

Former Undersecretary for International Trade Jeff Garten, who supervised Huang's former boss Charles Meissner, described Huang as "totally unqualified in my judgment for the kind of Commerce Department we were establishing."

Garten's testimony came on the fifth day of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's hearings, led by Tennessee Republican Fred Thompson, into alleged campaign fund-raising abuses.

Garten said he transfered Huang to an administrative position within the department because of his lack of experience in policy-making. He also ordered members of his division, including Huang, "walled off" from any dealings with China because of their concentration on Taiwan policy.

Despite this policy, Huang visited the Chinese embassy at least six times, and received calls from Chinese embassy officials. Garten said he was surprised by this. Huang should also not have received classified briefings on China, Garten said, because he "didn't need the briefings for any of his administrative responsibilities."

But CIA official John H. Dickerson, who was detailed to the Commerce Department during Huang's tenure, testified that he had not been informed that Huang was "walled off" from intelligence on China.

Dickerson estimated that he had showed Huang between 300 and 500 "raw pieces" of CIA intelligence, mostly on trade and economic matters but some quite sensitive, during 37 separate briefings.

Dickerson appeared before the committee behind a screen to shield his physical identity. He testified in conjunction with Commerce Department official Robert Gallagher and CIA official William McNair.

Under Democratic questioning, Dickerson told senators that he tailored his briefings to give Huang intelligence on China and Taiwan, but that Huang did not request the information.

Huang also did not follow up on an offer to seek a higher level of security clearance, and did not show any unusual curiosity about the classified information he received, according to testimony. "He was a relatively passive customer," Dickerson said.

Appearing before Garten was former Associate Director of White House Personnel Gary Christopherson, who placed Huang at the Commerce Department, and Commerce Department Acting Security Director Paul Buskirk, who issued Huang's top secret security clearance.

Buskirk was grilled about an interim security clearance that was granted to Huang between July 1994 and October 1994 before a "field background" check was done. Huang was also not subjected to an overseas background check before being given a top secret clearance, which Buskirk said he now regrets.

"Senator, in hindsight there was a rock that was not turned over," Buskirk said.

Republicans and Democrats differed over the significance of Huang's clearance process. GOP senators contended the administration was sloppy in its checks, while Democrats pointed out that Huang's clearance process represented standard procedure.

While insisting that he was not defending Huang, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), cautioned against "trying to make [Huang] some sort of mysterious character that was placed for subversive reasons or some nefarious purpose, that there was some sort of a plot involved in getting him into the specific position for other reasons that were going to be used later on ... I just saw nothing sinister about the process that was used to put him into that position."

But Sen. Thompson said that was not the point. "[Huang] had access to information that would have been of interest to Lippo," Thompson said. "To say we haven't proved he's a spy yet is totally missing the mark and an attempt to divert our attention off of serious procedural matters, substantive matters, trying to find out what actually happened in this last presidential campaign."

Christopherson testified that Huang was presented to him as a "high priority candidate" whose appointment would be considered an "important symbol to the Asian community."

Under questioning, Christopherson said that he did not feel any pressure from the Democratic National Committee, nor did he know the extent of Huang's previous fund-raising activities.