What is the process for selection of a Special Prosecutor, who selects the individual in charge of prosecution?
With the President's approval, the Attorney General is responsible for selecting Special Counsels.
If the Attorney General is somehow implicated in the matter, he may hand-off the selection to an Assistant AG -- as John Ashcroft did in the Plame Affair.
But, somehow, I don't think Smith's request is going to make it out of the White House...