The White House on Friday aggressively defended President Bush’s decision to personally declassify pre-war intelligence on Iraq, which came to light in court filings this week.
“The president of the United States has the authority to declassify information,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told a combative press corps. “The president would never authorize the disclosure of information that he felt could compromise our nation’s security.”
According to documents filed in federal court on Wednesday by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Bush declassified pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s nuclear ambitions in 2003 so that it could be provided to the New York Times. Bush told Vice President Cheney to authorize an aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to give the information to reporter Judith Miller.
Though Fitzgerald is charging Libby with lying to the FBI about his conversations with reporters, he is not accusing Bush of breaking any law.
Nor has anyone been charged with leaking the name of a CIA employee, Valerie Plame, who is married to outspoken war critic Joseph Wilson.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was “shocking” to learn that “Libby may have acted on direct orders from President Bush when he leaked classified intelligence to reporters.”
McClellan quickly fired back at Reid.
“That’s just crass politics, because he is not acknowledging an important distinction,” he said. “The information that he was referring to was declassified.”
He added: “There is a difference between providing declassified information to the public when it’s in the public interest and leaking classified information that involved sensitive national intelligence regarding our security.”
As an example of the latter, he cited a New York Times story that disclosed classified information about a government program to eavesdrop on the international phone calls of terrorism suspects.
McClellan suggested New York Times journalists “put our nation at risk. They put lives at risk. They put sources and methods at risk.”
The distinction did not impress Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
“I am absolutely stunned at the news,” she told NBC on Thursday. “Our president turns out to be leaker in chief.”
But in 2003, Harman was among many Democrats pushing the White House to declassify pre-war intelligence.
“This government is able to declassify documents quickly when necessary,” she told NPR. “That’s the process that should be followed now.”
