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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (729734)	3/7/2006 5:23:36 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

CIA says Libby defense could disrupt intelligence 1 hour, 19 minutes ago news.yahoo.com The CIA would have a hard time advising President George W. Bush on security threats if a judge forced it to provide all documents sought by a former vice presidential aide accused of perjury, the agency said in a court filing made public on Tuesday. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with lying to the FBI and a grand jury during an investigation into who disclosed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to news reporters in 2003 after her husband accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Libby is seeking access to nearly a year's worth of intelligence briefs to prove that he was preoccupied with national-security matters during that time period and thus could not accurately remember his conversations with reporters and government officials. CIA information review officer Marilyn Dorn said agency officials would have a harder time keeping Bush up to date on security threats if a judge ordered them to dig up classified material sought by Libby. "The job would divert their precious time and effort away from their primary task: preparing breaking intelligence for the president's immediate attention," Dorn wrote. Libby's lawyers have told Judge Reggie Walton that the CIA could easily produce the intelligence summaries to help him make his case. But Dorn said that the CIA would require up to nine months to reassemble the reports because they contain information from many different sources based on questions that Libby asked briefers. Because of the highly sensitive nature of the material, only those officials who prepare the reports have enough security clearance to handle the task, she said. "The CIA would be forced to divert the limited analytic resources of the president's professional intelligence staff to time-consuming and painstaking research and analysis to determine exactly what information was provided to and received from the defendant in connection with his morning intelligence briefing," Dorn wrote. Even a more narrowly targeted request would require three months to assemble, she said. Libby is scheduled to stand trial in January 2007. Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.