When Is a Leak Not a Leak?
By MIKE ALLEN


Posted Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
President Bush has habitually complained about "too much leaking in Washington," but it turns out he used his declassification power to combat attacks on the Administration's case for invading Iraq. Democrats call it a leak. The White House calls it a factual rebuttal. After several days of neither confirming nor denying testimony by ex--White House aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, officials close to Vice President Cheney said the President indeed declassified part of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in 2003 but left the method of releasing it up to others. After a conversation with Cheney, Libby delivered the passages to Judith Miller of the New York Times to counter Joseph Wilson, a vocal Administration critic.

A lawyer knowledgeable about the case said Bush directed that the material "be put out to the press and charged the Vice President with doing it, without saying when or where or how." A senior Administration official said the President had "no idea" of "Scooter's role or who he would be talking to" and gave no "tactical authorization" for putting out the material.