March 30, 2004

An uncensored version of the Senate Sergeant At Arms' report on his investigation into Republican hacking of sensitive Democrat computer servers was accidentally released to journalists on March 4. The 67-page report includes the names of the partisan cyber-thieves, other key figures on both sides of the scandal, and numerous footnotes that were redacted in the public version.

A copy of the full, uncensored report is available at Cryptome.org, which highlights the previously censored sections in red text. A link to a PDF of the censored version is also provided.

It is unclear just how accidental the "accidental release" of the full report actually was. A letter issued by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said the release was due to "an administrative error" and that there "was no intention on anyone's part to release this version at this time..."

As reported by Subliminal News at the time, the scandal -- now often referred to as "Hackergate" -- erupted publicly in late January, 2004, when the Boston Globe and other press outlets reported that Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee had secretly infiltrated Democrat computers for at least a year.

During that time the Republicans monitored and stole secret strategy memos and other sensitive documents, periodically passing selected items on to the conservative media for publication in an effort to politically damage the Democrats. Recipients of the purloined materials included columnist Robert Novak, who illegally revealed the identity of CIA covert operative and WMD specialist Valerie Plame in a Bush-backed act of political retribution against former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

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