SENATORS SPECTOR AND KERREY CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE COMPROMISE OF CLASSIFIED MATERIALS IN SOMALIA

WASHINGTON, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- To prevent future leaks of classified materials, U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE), Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, again called for an independent investigation by the Defense Department and the CIA into the policy, procedures and practices of providing classified information to the United Nations (U.N.).

The request was made in response to a Pentagon report issued on the U.S. Central Command investigation of classified materials found at the U.N. forces compound in Mogadishu on February 27, 1995. The Senators believe there was an irresponsible handling of classified information by U.N. forces in Somalia which bordered on recklessness.

"The incident at Mogadishu points out at least one instance wherin U.S. information should not have been passed," Senator Specter said. "There may be more, however, the extent shall never be known, since most of the material retrieved from the U.N. office in Mogadishu was destroyed."

General Shalikashvili stated that "since we cannot know of other items that may have been compromised, the possibility of a more substantial security breach cannot be excluded."

Senators Specter and Kerrey wrote a letter on March 17, 1995 to Secretary of Defense William Perry and Acting Director of Central Intelligence William Studeman requesting a joint investigation into the security breach by the independent Inspectors General of the Defense Department and the CIA.

"A continuation of this deficiency can only lead the U.S. to stop supplying intelligence and in the long run, this will hurt us as well," Senator Kerrey said.

Senators Specter and Kerrey also called on Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to cooperate fully in establishing security safeguards.

/CONTACT: Charles Battaglia, 202-224-1755, or Margaret Camp, 202-224-9020, or Greg Weiner, 202-224-1399, all for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter/

CO: Senate Select Committee On Intelligence

ST: District of Columbia