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Bush upset at Congress for leaking secrets
By CAROLYN SKORNECKAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — President Bush accused members of Congress on Tuesday of leaking secrets to the news media and said, ``It is unacceptable behavior to leak classified information when we have troops at risk.''
Bush decided Friday to restrict the number of lawmakers who get top-security briefings on the war against terrorism. He sent a memo to Capitol Hill explaining his action and called leaders about it.
``Our nation has put our troops at risk and therefore I felt it was important to send a clear signal to Congress that classified information must be held dear,'' the president said Tuesday when asked about the memo during a Rose Garden appearance with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
``It's a serious matter, very serious,'' said Bush, who did not identify anyone he suspected of leaking information. ``I intend to protect our troops.''
The president, upset when details from Oct. 2 intelligence briefings on Capitol Hill turned up in news articles, restricted top-secret congressional briefings to the House speaker, House minority leader, Senate majority and minority leaders and the chairmen and top minority members on the intelligence committees.
But he told congressional leaders later at the White House that he was open to wider dissemination. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he expected an array of committee members and ``anyone on a need-to-know basis would be able to have access to the information that we're talking about.''
Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., showed Bush a copy of a federal law that requires the State Department to keep the House International Relations Committee and its Senate counterpart ``fully and currently informed with respect to all activities and responsibilities within the jurisdiction of these committees.''
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president intended to follow the law, and predicted that ``this will all work out.''
Members of Congress gave mixed reviews Tuesday to Bush's first restrictive action.
``I think it's an overreaction,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. ``Certainly members of the Intelligence Committee can be trusted. This is their job. I would urge him to reconsider.''
Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., said he shared Bush's ``outrage at the irresponsibility demonstrated by some members as late as last week in the release of extremely sensitive information.''
``We ought to be outraged. It ought to be investigated. We ought to find ways ... to stop that kind of irresponsibility,'' Daschle said.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said, ``Sometimes it's a temptation when you know something's about to happen to say something about it. But you cannot do that, because it undermines our operations and it puts people's lives at risk.''
Both Daschle and Lott said Congress must be able to carry out its constitutional oversight role, and that means several committees must get secret information. Daschle specifically named the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees.
Bush said he planned to explain his decision to lawmakers in person at a breakfast Wednesday.
``I understand there may be some heartburn on Capitol Hill, but I suggest if they want to relieve that heartburn they take their positions very seriously, and that they take any information that they've been given by our government very seriously because this is serious business we're talking about.''
Bush summoned the four leaders of the House and Senate foreign affairs committees — Biden, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill. and Lantos — to the White House Tuesday afternoon to update them on military actions in Afghanistan, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Rep. Bob Stump, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Chairman, said he had no objection to being excluded from the top secret briefings.
``My philosophy is the fewer people who know about some of these things, the better off we are,'' Stump, R-Ariz., said in an interview. ``I firmly believe in the need to know. Many times, there really is no need to know.''