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But I've got this nagging thought that there is something pretty critical that missing from this - something regarding an action taken by the 'Toon right near the start of his administration that seems to play into this stuff... but I can't get my mind around it right now...
Your nagging thought is contagious. There was quite a bit the 'Toon did at the start. Possibly an Executive Order? His first one was January 20, 1993, his first day in office I do believe... Executive Order 12834 "ETHICS COMMITMENTS BY EXECUTIVE BRANCH APPOINTEES"
There is much that I can't get my mind around at the moment either.

No politician is stupid enough to hide something when he has nothing to hide. William Safire

I think I've recalled the "something more nagging me" which should be built back into this story - fleshes out and corroberates the deliberation, and this type of thing REALLY smacks of Hitlery's finger in the pot...

If my recollection is correct, the 'Toon (and wife?) - 'way back in about '93 or so - changed the DNC donor procedures in such a manner that they started ignoring whether or not money came from foreign sources. This made it easier for ChinaGate and some of the other "see no evil" things to occur with a smaller number of "prying eyes". Of course, the blatant ChinaGate pandering to the commercial gods by not vetting technology transfers through DoD and StateDept... It also gave them "plausible deniability" when some things did come to light...

Yes: this well fits in with the whole strategy of "blinding" us to information that was the focus of the article: Making sure that donations were not looked at carefully... As they stated:

Next, as we have seen through Jamie Gorelick's startling memo1, he saw to it that domestic law enforcement was blinded to foreign intelligence information. He then methodically offered up White House access and key strategic technologies to the highest bidder: China, and Indonesian/Chinese billionaire donors with close ties to China's dictatorial regime.

Intriguingly, Clinton's Department of Justice's signature assault on Microsoft also appears to have been to the benefit of Indonesian/Chinese billionaires, who just happened to be the originating funders of the private venture fund which was the largest shareholder in lead plaintiff Netscape at the time2

With the declassification of former Deputy Attorney General Gorelick's memo, the picture comes into sharp focus: the Clinton Administration was not just:

Inattentive towards terrorism;

Impotent in its response to bin Laden's challenges;

Burdened by petty bureaucratic squabbles and a thong-distracted Chief Executive, blocking urgently-needed intel initiatives3 ;

...but also:

With the added "donor" vetting, it is clear that was all part and parcel of:

Purposefully malfeasant in hamstringing the intelligence community even beyond Carter-era Church Commission strictures. "Gorelick's Wall" was not just a monument to political correctness and lawyer-think run amok, it was a strategic keystone of the Clinton Administration's wholesale auction of America's security, sovereignty and economy.