It has now been eight months since Clinton appointees at the Defense Department leaked confidential information from Linda Tripp's security file in an effort to embarrass her -- and possibly get her fired. It has been eight months, too, since the Pentagon's inspector general promised a report on the matter. We are still waiting.
One congressman who is particularly exercised about the department's dereliction is Gerald Solomon, the chairman of the Rules Committee who is retiring this year. In a letter to Dennis Hastert, chairman of a House subcommittee on national security, Solomon sought to ensure that Congress would keep an eye on the Tripp case. He said that he was "extremely concerned" that Clinton officials had committed crimes, adding that he was "troubled by the actions taken by the Office of the Inspector General." That office promised Congress a report in July. It reneged, citing "external factors" -- probably an allusion to Kenneth Starr's look at the matter and indictments that may ensue from it. The dirty trick played by the "most ethical administration in history" on a government employee, Tripp, should not go down the memory hole. Solomon, perhaps alone, seems to understand this.