July 25, 1995 - Part 2
July 25, 1995 - Part 2
(10:40:20) Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What did you do with that? Ms. MATHEWS. At that point, I put it in the office. I was in the suite, the Chief of Staff 's suite, and I took it into the office of, at that time, Deputy Chief of Staff Roy Neel's Office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Where did you place it? MS. MATHEWS. Inside the office, as you walk in to the right. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did you take any precaution to ensure that the trash not be thrown away again inadvertently? Ms. MATHEWS. The following morning when I came to work, I placed a call down to the Office of the Chief of Staff to let that office--to let them know what that was that was sitting in Roy Neel, the Deputy Chief of Staffs Office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Do you recall whether you placed some kind of a note on the trash bag? Ms. MATHEWS. I placed the inventory that I had made on the trash. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. So it was clear that it was isolated-it had a note on it stuck to it reflecting the inventory, and then you took the additional precaution of phoning to advise the people in that office that they should safeguard this material? Ms. MATHEWS. Yes, I both taped a note on and called. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Now, that evening, why didn't you put the trash bag back in Mr. Foster's office? Ms. MATHEWS. I'm sorry, I don't know. I didn't think to do that. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Because it was locked? Ms. MATHEWS. I don't know why I didn't take it Mr. BEN-VENISTE. You couldn't get in at that point? Ms. MATHEWS. I'm sorry. At that point, I don't know why I didn't Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did you go back upstairs after you had made the search of the trash and walked past the Counsel's Office? MS. MATHEWS. Yes, I did. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Were the doors closed? MS, MATHEWS, The doors were closed. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did it appear to have been locked? Ms. MATHEWS. It appeared to have been locked. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. So the trash was locked out, and so you put it in Mr. Neel's office for safekeeping? MS. MATHEWS. As far as the sequence of the timing on which thing, I did put it in Mr. Neel's office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Let's turn to the burn bag material, which is separate from the trash. After you had gone through the steps that You have indicated to safeguard the trash, you thought, what about the burn bag material; is that correct? MS. MATHEWS. That's correct. 254 Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Burn bag material is material of a highly sensitive nature; is that correct? MS. MATHEWS. That's correct. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Would you explain the uses for burn bags'? MS. MATHEWS. Various people use them differently. When You're briefed in your security briefing on what you should use and what goes into a burn bag, it's explained that sensitive materials, those materials that people see on a need-to-know basis go into the bag. For instance, I worked in economic policy. Sometimes information that came over from the Federal Reserve to the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy was market sensitive. Therefore, that information, instead of-I would put in a burn bag to be taken care of. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. To whom did you speak about looking for Mr. Foster's burn bag material before you actually went to see if you could find it? Ms. MATHEWS. I again mentioned it to the senior staff in the Chief of Staff's Office to see if they agreed that it would be a good idea to obtain it. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Who did you speak to? Ms. MATHEWS. I don't remember specifically at that time who I talked to about that. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. But you basically got the green light as you had with the trash, go ahead, maybe that's a good idea? MS. MATHEWS. Yes, sir, Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Who did you speak to about getting the burn bag material which had been collected? MS. MATHEW. A uniformed division officer that was posted outside the Oval Office. As you walk down the hall, there's always a uniformed division officer there. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What did you say to that gentleman? Ms. MATHEWS. I don't remember the specific words I used, but asked him how-if the burn bags-how would you know if they had been dumped for the evening and how to obtain that material. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Again, you didn't know one way or the other either whether Mr. Foster had a burn bag and if he had a burn bag in his office, whether that burn bag had been dumped? MS. MATHEWS. That's correct, I did not know at that time if he had one in his office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. But you were taking the extra precaution of trying to find out? Ms. MATHEWS. Yes, sir. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What did the uniformed officer tell you? Ms. MATHEWS. I'm not sure if he gave me a phone number or placed a call himself, but there was a call placed and the bag was brought, the commingled bag was brought to the Chief of Staffs Office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. So, when you say "commingled," unlike the material that was in the larger receptacle for the trash, which had each individual trash bag separate and still maintaining the integrity of those individual trash bags, the burn bag material had all been dumped into one larger receptacle; is that correct?