I'll let Raye offer her insights on this story ~ just wanted to put it up for all to read. Obviously someone is doing a not-so-white wash job here so, once again, we have to read between the lines and look at what's not being said....and ask, why?

CANADIAN MOUNTIES END PROBE OF PROMIS

Their conclusion: RCMP not using rigged software.
By Valerie Lawton and Allan Thompson © September 16, 2000 Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA - The RCMP claims it does not have controversial software that allegedly was rigged to allow foreign spies to peek into top-secret computer files.

The force said yesterday that a lengthy national security investigation is shutting down.

But the announcement is unlikely to end questions about the bizarre case.

The developer of the software, called Promis, said an investigator suggested to him the probe was being wrapped up in a hurry to quell questions when the House of Commons resumes Monday. And an opposition politician vowed not to let the issue rest until the Mounties offer a better explanation.

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`I would ask why they made such an investment of time and resources and money to send people repeatedly to the United States to interview witnesses in the Promis-Inslaw affair . . . It doesn't make any sense.'

- Bill Hamilton
Owner of Promis creator Inslaw Inc.
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An RCMP spokesperson wouldn't explain why it's taken over a year and trips across North America by investigators to conclude the force isn't using Promis.
``The investigation . . . was to make sure that national security wasn't breached,'' said Staff Sergeant Mike Gaudet. ``We're saying today that we do not have Promis software.''

Four people interviewed by the Mounties - who used Promis spelled backward (simorp) in their e-mail address - have told The Star an RCMP investigator explicitly said the force does have Promis.

The Star reported last month that the RCMP was investigating claims software used by the force and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had a ``trap door'' to allow American and Israeli agents to eavesdrop.

Promis was at the centre of a major U.S. scandal a decade ago. Bill and Nancy Hamilton, owners of Washington-based Inslaw Inc., which created Promis, accused the U.S. government of stealing their software. They also claim pirated versions were sold to intelligence agencies worldwide.

Their story has been confirmed by two Israeli spies who've also alleged the software was fitted with a trap door - essentially a computer bug.

Inslaw's Bill Hamilton said he has spoken with lead investigator Sean McDade dozens of times in recent months.

``I would ask why they made such an investment of time and resources and money to send people repeatedly to the United States to interview witnesses in the Promis-Inslaw affair if they had not done their homework to find out that they have any interest in the matter,'' Hamilton said. ``It doesn't make any sense, does it?''

Hamilton faxed The Star a statement on Thursday, a day before the RCMP's announcement, suggesting political concerns were pushing such a public comment ``because the House of Commons is about to come into session again and expects the RCMP to have a definitive answer about this software.''

Hamilton also accused McDade of changing his position on Promis. In the past, he said, McDade suggested the RCMP acquired Promis from a company in Massachusetts and it was modified by a Toronto firm. Yet just this week McDade said he was certain the force doesn't have Promis.

Cheri Seymour, a California researcher interviewed by McDade - who took away thousands of pages of her research material - said yesterday: ``(McDade) said that they had a paper trail on the Promis software being purchased by the RCMP. He told me that.''

McDade, an Ottawa-Carleton regional police officer on secondment to the RCMP, has refused The Star's numerous requests for an interview.

Gaudet refused to explain why the RCMP launched the investigation last year, even though the force adamantly denied in 1991 it had the software, or why it has taken some 18 months to determine whether software in the RCMP's own computers is Promis.

Canadian Alliance MP Myron Thompson (Wild Rose) vowed to go after answers:

``It doesn't make sense that they traipse around the world and spend a lot of taxpayers' money investigating something that we're not involved in.''