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Hurd, Dunn, Clear Their Throats Chris Kraeuter 09.27.06, 7:00 PM ET Burlingame, Calif. - Current and former Hewlett-Packard executives have stayed mostly mum in the wake of the snooping scandal that has rocked the tech giant. But on Thursday, it will be time to start talking: Chief Executive Mark Hurd and an assorted cast of characters have a four-hour appointment with a Congressional committee. Hurd broke his silence last Friday with a public mea culpa, but declined to answer questions from journalists (see " Best Intentions"). But unless he wants to invoke the Fifth Amendment, he'll have to be more chatty in front of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose members are likely to have some pointed questions. For instance, Hurd has said that he knew about HP's initial efforts to root out a leaker on its corporate board 18 months ago, but says that he was unaware of its eventual scope--investigators who obtained personal phone records of directors and journalists through impersonations, surveillance of directors and journalists, the use of tracing software sent to a journalist and other dubious methods (see " The Pretexting Way"). Yet an email trail reportedly connects Hurd to the investigation's later stages. What gives? In testimony released Wednesday evening in advance of the hearing, Hurd didn't address his role in the scandal, but apologized for what he called a "rogue investigation." "The investigation team became so focused on finding the source of the leaks that they lost sight of the privacy of reporters and others," he said. "They lost sight of the values that HP has always represented." Hurd's comments are the most anticipated among the nine people slated to appear before the committee. Former HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn also gets her first opportunity to speak about the debacle, something she said she was "looking forward to" in a statement last week (see " HP After Dunn"). In testimony she has prepared in advance of her hearing, Dunn insisted that HP was right to look for its leaker, and asks Congress to consider legislation that would offer companies like HP "legitimate and sanctioned ways of pursuing their responsibilities to protect their intellectual property and confidentiality." "Had there been an agency of law enforcement to which HP could turn to purse a fully lawful, sanctioned and protected investigation… this series of events would not have occurred," she said. These two might be the most open with committee members about what's transpired during the past 18 months. A couple of other insiders at HP have resigned this week after receiving a subpoenae from the committee. And outside firms contracted by HP to investigate the initial leaks have indicated through lawyers in recent press reports that they are likely to invoke the Fifth Amendment in front of Congress today. The House committee won't be done exploring the HP story after the tech company leaves Washington D.C. On Friday, the committee will focus specifically on "pretexting"--the method HP's investigators used to pry into private phone records. They've called up the heads of major wireless companies, including U.S. Cellular (amex: USM - news - people ), Alltel Communications (nyse: AT - news - people ), Cingular Wireless, Sprint (nyse: S - news - people ) Nextel, Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) Wireless and T-Mobile to talk about the issue.

[Forbes News] Hurd, Dunn, Clear Their Throats