House panel puts Clinton's private fax online

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

http://www.rollcall.com/newsscoops/leadscoop.html

House Panel Puts Clinton's Private Fax on the Internet

          By Ed Henry and Jennifer Bradley

          President Clinton's private fax number was placed on the
Internet by the
          House Government Reform and Oversight Committee for a brief time
          Tuesday in a breach that has infuriated White House officials.

          The number for the fax machine that sits right outside the Oval
Office was
          provided to Government Reform and Oversight investigators by
former
          Clinton political consultant Dick Morris, during an August
deposition, on the
          condition that it be kept private. 

          But the fax number, which Clinton uses for secure communications
with old
          friends and people he meets during trips around the nation, was
left in the
          deposition made public Tuesday on the Internet.

          "I can say on the President's behalf that he's disappointed that
the committee
          didn't respect the confidentiality of his number," White House
spokesman
          Mike McCurry said in an interview. "This is very troubling to
the White
          House."

          After being contacted by Roll Call with the President's private
number on
          Tuesday evening, McCurry did some checking and called back
within a few
          minutes to declare, "Unfortunately it's a match."

          McCurry complained that the White House will now have to change
the
          number and try to track down all of the disparate people who use
the number.
          "This basically has the potential to ruin a device the President
has used as a
          real good sounding board," he said.

          McCurry suggested this was an example of Government Reform and
          Oversight Chairman Dan Burton's (R-Ind) recklessness.
[...]