CIA shuts chat room, fires four

Friday, December 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The CIA has fired four employees and reprimanded dozens of others for participating in a secret chat room hidden in the agency's computer system, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The newspaper said the disciplinary action was described as the largest in the agency's history, and followed a seven-month investigation that involved 160 employees and delved into activities going back 15 years.

The CIA issued a statement that said the investigation found no ``unauthorized disclosure of classified information.'' A memo to all employees said investigators uncovered ``a concerted and sustained effort on the part of a group of individuals to create, maintain and hide databases on the agency's computer systems.''

The agency's statement said four employees were stripped of security clearances, ``rendering them ineligible for continued CIA employment,'' the Post reported. Eighteen others received letters of reprimand.

``Most of them will be suspended without pay for periods ranging from five to 45 days,'' the agency said.

Nine contractors also were stripped of security clearances, which means they cannot work on CIA contracts, the statement said. Seventy-nine other CIA employees with ``minimal involvement'' in the computer scheme received either warning letters or security briefings.

But former CIA employees with firsthand knowledge of the secret chat rooms told the newspaper that the disciplinary actions were an overreaction by CIA management.

Ross Stapleton-Gray, a former CIA analyst who participated in the covert communications channels when he worked at the agency from 1988 to 1994, said those involved were primarily computer-savvy employees who enjoyed a sense of community with other ``techies.''

The agency said the first secret chat room was created as an ``unofficial user's group'' on the CIA's mainframe computer in the mid-1980s.

``Over the years, as the agency migrated to new information systems, the hidden databases were moved to take advantage of these new systems,'' the statement said.