Date: Fri, 14 Aug, 1992 19:52:31 PDT
From: pinknoiz@well.sf.ca.us
Subject: File 8--Special Investigator Requested for Inslaw (Press Release)

                       One Hundred Second Congress
                      Congress of the United States
                      U.S. House of Representatives
                        Committee on the Judiciary
                          Washington, D.C. 20515

                                             For Immediate Release
                                             August 11, 1992

NEWS RELEASE

         JUDICIARY COMMITTEE REPORT CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT COUNSEL TO
                INVESTIGATE THE INSLAW CONTROVERSY

By a vote of 21 to 13, the House Committee on the Judiciary today
voted to adopt an investigative report entitled, "The INSLAW Affair."
This report recommends that Attorney General Barr seek the
appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate potential
criminal conduct of current and former Justice officials involved in
an alleged conspiracy to steal the PROMIS software system from
INSLAW, Inc.

     Congressman Jack Brooks (D-Tex.), Chairman of the full
     Committee, stated, "This report culminates the Committee's
     three-year investigation into serious allegations that
     high-level Department of Justice officials were involved in
     a criminal conspiracy to force INSLAW, a small computer
     company, out of business and steal its primary asset -- a
     software system called PROMIS. While the Department
     continues to attempt to describe its conflict with INSLAW as
     a simple contract dispute that has been blown out of
     proportion by the media, the Committee's investigation has
     uncovered information which suggests a much different,
     disturbing conclusion."

In March 1982, the Justice Department awarded INSLAW, Inc., a $10
million, three year contract to implement a case management software
system called PROMIS at 94 U.S. Attorney's offices across the country
and U.S. territories. While PROMIS could have gone a long way toward
correcting the Department's long- standing need for a standardized
case management system, the contract between INSLAW and Justice
quickly became embroiled in bitterness and controversy which has
lasted for almost a decade.

The report concludes that there appears to be strong evidence, as
indicated by the findings of two Federal court proceedings, as well as
by the Committee investigation, that the Department of Justice "acted
willfully and fraudulently," and "took, converted and stole" INSLAW's
Enhanced PROMIS by "trickery, fraud and deceit." The report finds that
these actions against INSLAW were implemented through the Project
Manager from the beginning of the contract and under the direction of
high-level Justice Department officials. The evidence presented in the
report demonstrates that high-level Department officials deliberately
ignored INSLAW's proprietary rights and misappropriated its PROMIS
software for use at locations not covered under contract with the
company. Justice then proceeded to challenge INSLAW's claims in court
even though its own internal deliberations had concluded that these
claims were valid and that the Department would most likely lose in
court on this issue.

     Brooks stated, "After almost seven years of litigation and
     $1 million in cost to the taxpayer, the Department is still
     trying to avoid accountability for the actions it took
     against INSLAW. It is time for Justice to recognize its
     mistakes and cut its losses and restore its moral standing
     as an enforcement agency, which is just as committed to
     living by the law as any other citizen."

According to the report, the second phase of the Committee's
investigation concentrated on the allegations that high-level
officials at the Department of Justice conspired to drive INSLAW into
insolvency and steal PROMIS. In this regard, the report states that
several individuals testified under oath that INSLAW's PROMIS software
was stolen and distributed internationally in order to provide
financial gain to associates of Justice Department officials and to
further intelligence and foreign policy objectives of the United
States. Additional corroborating evidence was uncovered by the
Committee which substantiated to varying degrees the information
provided by these individuals.

     Brooks stated, "It is unfortunate that the Department chose
     not to conduct a thorough investigation into INSLAW's
     allegations of criminal wrongdoing by high-level government
     officials. Although they were faced with a growing body of
     evidence that serious wrongdoing had occurred which reached
     to the highest levels of the Department, both Attorneys
     General Meese and Thornburgh blocked or restricted
     Congressional inquiries into this matter and in the case of
     Attorney General Thornburgh ignored the findings of two
     Federal courts and refused to seek the appointment of an
     Independent Counsel."

The report recommends that Attorney General Barr immediately settle
INSLAW's claims in a fair and equitable manner. The Committee report
also strongly recommends that the Department seek the appointment of
an Independent Counsel in accordance with 28 USC $$591-599 to conduct
a comprehensive investigation of the INSLAW allegations of a high
level conspiracy within the Justice Department to steal and distribute
the Enhanced PROMIS software.  According to the report, the
investigation should: (1) ascertain whether there was a strategy by
former Attorneys General and other Department officials to obstruct
this and other investigations through employee harassment and denial
of access to Department records; (2) determine whether current and
former Justice Department officials and others involved in the INSLAW
affair resorted to perjury and obstruction in order to cover-up their
misdeeds; (3) determine whether the documents subpoenaed by the
Committee and reported missing by the Department were stolen or
illegally destroyed; and, (4) determine if private sector individuals
participated in (a) the alleged conspiracy to steal INSLAW's PROMIS
software and distribute it to various locations domestically and
overseas, and (b) the alleged cover-up of this conspiracy through
perjury and obstruction.

Finally, the Committee report recommends that the Independent Counsel
investigate the mysterious death of reporter, Daniel Casolaro, who
died while conducting an investigation of the INSLAW matter. The
report notes that the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death
have led some law enforcement professionals and others to believe that
his death may not have been a suicide.

     Brooks concluded: "The conduct of the Department in the
     INSLAW affair has resulted in an erosion of the public's
     trust in the organization charged with enforcing our
     Nation's laws. In order to restore the public's confidence
     in the Department of Justice, there must be a full and open
     investigation into this matter. However, I'm skeptical that
     without the appointment of an individual to conduct this
     investigation who is not under the direct control of the
     Attorney General, this matter will ever be fully resolved."

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