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Congress Probes Allegations Against Bolton
Undersecretary of State John Bolton, the Bush administration’s nominee for U.N. ambassador, went to CIA headquarters in 2002 to demand the dismissal of an analyst who disputed his assertions about Cuba’s alleged biological weapons efforts, according to allegations being investigated by Congress ahead of Bolton’s Senate confirmation hearing scheduled to begin Monday (see GSN, April 4). Republican and Democratic congressional investigators are examining the charges, officials told Knight Ridder. “As we’ve looked at it, we haven’t found anything that violates the norms of behavior when it comes to these kinds of things,” said one congressional official. Senator Lincoln Chaffee (R-R.I.) has said he is undecided about Bolton’s nomination, making him the only Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee who remains noncommittal. A “no” vote by Chaffee, in conjunction with the committee’s eight Democrats, could block the nomination, Knight Ridder reported. Otto Reich, a former assistant secretary of state, said he talked about the analyst with Bolton in 2002 but said the matter is being raised now as part of “a smear campaign.” “This is the typical Washington character assassination,” he said, calling Bolton “extremely careful and intellectually honest. Yes, he’s conservative, but that’s why the president picked him.” Reich added that he is waiting to hear if he will be allowed to testify on Bolton’s behalf before the Senate committee. “I want to set the record straight,” he said (Landay/Martin, Knight Ridder/Kansas City Star, April 8). Meanwhile, documents to counter criticism of Bolton have been sent to the Senate, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday. “We don’t see any grounds for questioning his nomination or confirmation,” said Boucher. Other than Bolton, the only presumed witness at the hearing is Carl Ford, former chief of the State Department’s bureau of intelligence and research, who sparred with Bolton over what he perceived as intimidation of intelligence officials, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Democrats are also expected to interview four State Department officials, said Norm Kurz, a spokesman for Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.). Among those being contacted is Christian Westermann, a department intelligence officer, according to committee aides (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle, April 7).
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