The announcement which continued the row over FBI background files provoked allegations concerning invasion of privacy. The project was begun in 1993, when Hillary Clinton was worried about what she regarded as betrayals of incidents in her private life to the media. This was also when the White House began storing in a vault sensitive FBI documents on Republicans.

The database lists political loyalties as well as whether the subjects are friends of the Clintons. Barry Toiv, a White House aide, said the computer information was purely to help in deciding whom to invite to the White House, as well as to keep track of Mr Clinton's supporters. The database, apparently nicknamed "Big Brother" internally, is being likened to Lyndon Johnson's "favours file", but Republicans are seizing on it as further evidence of privacy violation.

Congressman John Boehner challenged the White House yesterday, saying that if the information were so innocuous there was no harm in releasing it. "Many of us are concerned that this looks like an enemies' list that's being created at the White House." Susan Molinari, another Republican, said: "Every day there are new revelations coming from this White House in terms of the way they used their power."

People whose files turned up in the White House vault are now surfacing on TV chat shows

It has also emerged that the number of FBI files at the White House was 700, not 408 as the administration first stated. In addition, Anthony Marceca, a Pentagon aide who worked on them, routinely took home information from the FBI papers, storing it on computer discs.

Craig Livingstone, the Democratic political operative in charge of the documents, who has been forced to quit his White House job, has had details of his FBI check disclosed in Congress. It turns out that he lied about his academic record and admitted using various drugs "up until about 1985".

People whose files turned up in the White House vault are now surfacing on TV chat shows, all livid and most doubting the official explanation that it was an honest mistake by low-level aides. Mary Carroll said that among questions asked of her by the FBI was if she had "cheated" on her husband.

Linda Chavez, director of the US Commission on Civil Rights in the Reagan administration, said her file, obtained under the Freedom of Information law, included a lie that she had been fired, together with information that her father had been arrested for a violent crime. Her initial shock turned to rage when she realised that the date of the arrest was after he had died. The FBI had mixed him up with a man of the same name.