WASHINGTON-The chairman of the House Commerce Committee last week charged the Department of State was unduly influenced by Comsat Corp. last spring when the State Department changed its views on legislation that was necessary to privatize two satellite organizations-Intelsat and Inmarsat.
Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) last month successfully sponsored a House package that included such privatization legislation. The Senate has yet to take up the measure.
Bliley has been convinced for some time that Comsat played a part in the State Department’s change of heart on his legislation. In March, he asked for a legal analysis of the need for legislation. When that was not produced, he again May 21 asked for the analysis and additional information. The additional information included copies of all communications between the State Department, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The State Department refused to supply this information, claiming all inter-agency documents must come from the originating agency.
The State Department was uncooperative in other ways, too, according to a June 30 letter from Bliley to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The State Department also told the FCC and NTIA not to release any of its documents to Bliley, Bliley charged.
In-person meetings between State and the commerce committee also appear to have been rancorous, according to Bliley’s letter.
Bliley says his staff requested an interview with the State Department official responsible for the legal analysis, but the request was denied. “My staff recently requested an interview with a Department of State employee responsible for the preparation of the documents covered by my original and subsequent requests … your Department counter-offered to provide committee staff with a briefing from several Department officials, including the individual that committee staff initially requested to interview … Let me be clear: This committee will dictate the manner in which it conducts its oversight and investigation efforts.”
The State Department admits there has been a breakdown in communications with Bliley and his staff, but says the problem is with commerce committee staffers who do not understand normal State Department procedures.
The State Department refused to respond to all of the allegations in Bliley’s letter but did say that “any suggestion that [the State] Department or its officers have done anything improper is totally without foundation.”
The State Department expects to send senior-level officers to explain its views to Bliley.
Bliley did not give the State Department a deadline in which to respond, but a committee spokesman said the staff expects a response immediately.
