White House Was Warned About Security -- But Procedures Went Unchanged

WASHINGTON - Two years before the FBI files controversy was exposed, a top Democratic senator warned the White House about problems with the way it issued White House security passes.

In an Aug. 11, 1994, letter to President Clinton, Sen. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona recommended that a Secret Service agent or other appropriate full-time government official function as director of security at the White House.

"Such a person would be a nonpartisan individual responsible for overseeing all security-related functions within the office of administration," wrote DeConcini, who was chairman of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over White House operations.

White House kept him

But the White House left security director Craig Livingstone in his position - only to be embarrassed in recent weeks by disclosures about him. Livingstone announced his resignation Wednesday during a congressional hearing on the White House request of 700 FBI background files, including those of prominent Republicans.

"We would have been better off had we taken these measures," said White House spokesman Mark Fabiani. "Clearly, there were failures in the management of the office, and clearly there were lax procedures that had been in place for many years. We have now taken steps to correct the problem with new professional personnel and strict new procedures."

`Hillary wants him'

A former FBI agent assigned to the White House says he was told that Livingstone was named head of personnel security despite a questionable background because "Hillary wants him."

Writing in a new book, "Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House," the agent, Gary Aldrich, said then-associate White House counsel William Kennedy told him in early 1993 that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton wanted Livingstone in the job.

Kennedy, Aldrich wrote, asked him what the FBI thought of Livingstone as a replacement for a longtime veteran and in particular, what the FBI would think if there were "character issues in his background."

"I responded gingerly, saying it was a post that should be filled with someone squeaky clean, before Kennedy cut me off: `I guess I see your point, but it doesn't matter. It's a done deal. Hillary wants him.' "

Aldrich was assigned to the White House to conduct background investigations for five years until he retired in June 1995. Laced with undocumented allegations, his book was denounced by the White House.

"On its face, this is trash for right-wing cash," Fabiani said.

The book is published by the conservative Regnery Publishing Inc. in Washington and is being promoted by Craig Shirley & Associates Inc., whose principals are Republican political operatives.

Questions about Marceca

Meanwhile, more questions were raised about Anthony Marceca, Livingstone's longtime political buddy who was helping him with the White House security passes and collected the files. At Livingstone's request, Marceca was on loan to the White House from the U.S. Army, where he was a criminal investigator.

Marceca said in a 1994 civil lawsuit that he was fired from his White House security job because the FBI was told he was a member of an organized crime family.

Marceca sued two Texas residents, Lilly Stephenson and Joyce Montag, saying that they had told an FBI agent that Marceca was "a person of ill repute and dishonest" and that he had engaged in numerous criminal activities.

All of those claims are false and were made with ill will, Marceca said in his federal lawsuit.

Nevertheless, the statements cost him his temporary job in the White House security office and prevented him from getting a White House appointment, he said in his lawsuit. The case has not gone to trial.

Marceca said he had an opportunity to make a "cursory examination" of the report of his own FBI background investigation, in which he learned the nature and identity of the source of comments made about him.

Information from The Associated Press and The Washington Post is included in this report.