From Newsweek:

Homeland Security: Tough Accusations for Top Homeland Officials

Newsweek

April 17, 2006 issue - Republican Rep. Peter King of New York is raising questions about the adequacy of federal security-clearance procedures after the arrest of a Homeland Security spokesman on charges of trying to seduce a minor via the Internet and a senior Homeland investigator's no-contest plea to indecency charges. Last week Brian Doyle, Homeland Security's deputy press secretary, resigned after being arrested while chatting on his home computer with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl; he was allegedly trying to seduce her into a sexual relationship. The "girl" turned out to be two detectives from the Polk County, Fla., sheriff's office (one's a 6-foot-2, 300-pound male deputy). Doyle became a government spokesman after 9/11. Before that, he worked for 25 years in Time magazine's D.C. bureau. In 1999, say two Time sources who asked for anonymity because they were discussing internal operations, Doyle took a leave of absence following a complaint that he had downloaded pornography onto other employees' office computers. (The sources say the incident didn't involve child pornography.) Doyle claimed he was suffering from depression, the sources say; the mag kept him on after he agreed to therapy and a ban on Net access. The sources tell NEWSWEEK two of Doyle's former supervisors weren't contacted by government investigators, who conducted a "full field" background check on Doyle two years ago in connection with the "top secret" security clearance he needed for Homeland headquarters. Kathy Dillaman, associate director of the federal office responsible for Doyle's security check, says his vetting was "thorough and complete," but she wouldn't discuss whom her investigators might have contacted at Time. King said last week Doyle's history should have been discovered in a security check. A Homeland official, who requested anonymity because he was discussing internal matters, says despite Doyle's clearance, he had "almost no interaction" with secret info. Doyle's lawyer Barry Helfand says, "We have no statement on the accusations at this time."

Additionally troubling for Homeland officials: Frank Figueroa's no-contest plea last week to exposing himself to a 16-year-old girl. Figueroa is a veteran government investigator who, at the time of his arrest last October on misdemeanor indecent-exposure charges, headed the Tampa office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland's plainclothes investigations bureau. For several months earlier last year Figueroa headed Operation Predator, an ICE unit based in suburban D.C. that uses Net stings to trap sex offenders. At one point, Figueroa was the second highest-ranking investigator in U.S. Customs (which merged with Homeland after 9/11). Figueroa remains a Homeland employee, though he's turned in his badge and gun and has been banned from accessing government databases, say two sources knowledgeable about Figueroa's case who requested anonymity for discussing sensitive personnel issues. Brian Phillips, Figueroa's lawyer, says, "Frank pleaded no contest to spare his family the stress of a trial."

—Mark Hosenball