Bush demands staff turn over information in CIA case

2.45pm

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush has demanded that his staff meet a deadline on Tuesday (Washington time) to turn over documents for the Justice Department's investigation into who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent.

He said today he hoped the probe would send a clear message to administration officials that other leaks must stop.

"I'd like to know who leaked," Bush said after meeting with the president of Kenya.

"I have told my staff, I want full cooperation with the Justice Department. And when they ask for information, we expect the information to be delivered on a timely basis. I expect it to be delivered on a timely basis," he added.

The demand came as about 2000 White House employees scrambled to meet Tuesday's 5pm deadline (10am Wednesday NZ time) deadline to hand-deliver documents for the department's investigation into who disclosed the identity of a CIA officer whose husband had challenged Bush's claims about Iraq's weapons threat.

Revealing classified information is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

"This is a very serious matter and our administration takes it seriously," Bush said, adding he expected "a good, thorough investigation, which apparently is going to happen soon".

The investigation stemmed from the disclosure in a newspaper column in July that the wife of a former US envoy in Iraq and Gabon, Joseph Wilson, was an undercover CIA officer specialising in weapons of mass destruction.

Wilson has charged that Bush administration officials made public his wife's name, Valerie Plame, to muzzle criticism over the Iraq war, and possibly also as an act of revenge, after he accused the White House of exaggerating the weapons threat from Iraq, Washington's main justification for going to war.

He went to Niger in February 2002 at the CIA's request to assess a report that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger. Wilson found the allegation to be highly doubtful.

Bush said he could not say whether Plame's name was leaked as retaliation. "I don't know who leaked the information, for starters, so it's hard for me to answer that question until I find out the truth," Bush said.

But he said he hoped the investigation would help deter leaks of classified information to the press in the future.

"There's a lot of leaking in Washington DC. It's a town famous for it," Bush said. "But hopefully we'll help send a clear signal we expect other leaks to stop as well."

Bush brushed aside calls for a special counsel to investigate the leak, saying: "These are ... professional prosecutors who are leading this investigation."

In a notice to all White House employees, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales requested all documents about Wilson's trip to Niger and his wife's "relationship" with the CIA, as well as any contact with any member of the news media about Wilson, his trip or where his wife works.

Each employee must sign a form certifying that all documents have been produced or that they have no documents -- including telephone records, correspondence, computer records, notes, memos and diary and calendar entries -- related to the probe.

Gonzales said he gave the employees until October 7 "to ensure compliance with the time deadlines imposed" by the Justice Department. He said about 200 have already turned in their certifications.

- REUTERS

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