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HP executives take center stage at hearing

Ousted Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn, left, has a word with her attorney James Brosnahan during her testimony at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. PHOTO:AP

A trio of top Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co executives, two of them newly resigned, are occupying center stage in the drama around the technology company's spying probe that targeted HP directors and journalists with surveillance and subterfuge.

Company chairman and CEO Mark Hurd, ousted chairwoman Patricia Dunn and Anne Baskins, whose resignation as general counsel was announced just hours before, appeared at a congressional hearing on Thursday as lawmakers delved into the scandal that has roiled the Silicon Valley icon.

None wanted to assume blame for the investigation, designed to trace a boardroom leak, that used a network of private detectives who impersonated the targeted individuals to obtain their phone records, snooped through their trash and physically spied on them. And the two who testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee indicated gaps in their recollections of events over the past two years.

Dunn was grilled by lawmakers for hours -- nearly all day.

Hurd, the figure whom investors are most concerned about, did a far briefer turn at the witness table following Dunn and with lawmakers admitting their fatigue. He is credited with turning around HP's performance in his 18 months as CEO.

Baskins did not testify. She asserted her constitutional right against self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions, along with nine others with roles in the affair.

Much more information could have been known if so many people hadn't declined to testify.

Baskins did say, in a statement issued by her lawyers, that she always believed "that the investigative methods that she knew about were lawful, and she took affirmative steps to confirm their legality."

Documents released by the committee indicated that Baskins may have been aware of the investigators' deceptions to obtain the phone records, a practice known as pretexting.

Dunn likewise said she had been assured that only lawful methods were used. She said she asked Hurd for approval of the probe. And it was Baskins, she said, who "made some errors in judgment," who suggested the investigation should be conducted by HP's senior ethics officer.

"At no time in this investigation was I responsible for designing its methods," Dunn told the committee members. "I do not accept personal responsibility for what happened."

Referring to the ethics officer, Kevin Hunsaker, who reported to Baskins, Dunn said: "From my perspective, I was relying on Ann Baskins. I believe she was relying on Mr. Hunsaker."

Hurd told the panel: "This was a leak at the board level. Pattie [Dunn] took it very seriously."

As company chief executive, he said he should have detected that improper spying methods were being used, but that he failed to do so. "I should have been able to catch it. I didn't," he allowed.

While he apologized for the gross invasion of privacy that resulted, Hurd denied having direct knowledge of the methods used in the probe.

Lawmakers came up with a seemingly damaging e-mail: An HP investigator warned higher-ups in February that the company's leak probe was possibly illegal and likely threatened the computer and printer maker's reputation.
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