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WASHINGTON — An accident that occurred as a decades-old nuclear warhead was being dismantled at the government's Pantex facility near Amarillo, Texas, could have caused the device to detonate, a nonprofit organization charged Thursday. The Project on Government Oversight said the "near miss" event, which led the Energy Department to fine the plant's operator $110,000, was due partly to requirements that technicians at the plant work up to 72 hours per week. The Pantex plant, 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, is the country's only factory for assembly and disassembly of nuclear weapons. The organization said it was told by unidentified...

Bush presents firm front on Iraq By Jon Leyne BBC News, Amman It was billed as a crisis meeting at a crucial time in Iraq's history - although you would never have guessed, watching a disarmingly relaxed President Bush field questions afterwards. Mr Bush rubbished rumours of a loss of confidence in Mr Maliki There was certainly no hint that his project to spread democracy across the Middle East was in the tiniest bit of trouble. "There are reports from Washington that we are looking for a graceful exit," said Mr Bush. "But we will stay until the job...

WASHINGTON - Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby are asking a federal judge not to allow three years of politically charged backstory in the CIA leak case to seep into Libby's perjury trial in January. In new court documents, Fitzgerald argued that he shouldn't have to explain why Libby was charged while others, including the source of the leak, escaped prosecution. Libby said jurors shouldn't hear about New York Times reporter Judith Miller's 85-day jail term for refusing to discuss her conversations with him. The court documents, filed late Monday, are an effort...

Full article is in link. "An affidavit that Hanauer swore out Monday says that he had requested a copy of the estimate in response to a query from a Democratic member of the committee, and that the document had been posted on the committee's classified computer network two days later, making available it to any member or staffer. 'I affirm that I did not discuss or disclose, or cause to be discussed or disclosed, any information in the (estimate) with, or to, persons other than members and staff of the (committee), cleared individuals, and other members of Congress granted access...

Democrats say the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee had no grounds to suspend a staff member who's come under scrutiny for the leak of a secret intelligence assessment. The unidentified staff member, a Democrat, was suspended this week by Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and is being denied access to classified information pending the outcome of a review, Hoekstra's spokesman, Jamal Ware, said Thursday. The Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Jane Harman of California, wrote to Hoekstra that she was "appalled" by his action, which was "without basis." The leak to The New York Times of a National Intelligence Estimate...

THE sheriff's deputy who arrested actor Mel Gibson for drunken driving has had his home searched by fellow officers investigating how a police account of the actor's anti-Semitic tirade was made public, it was reported today. Acting on a search warrant obtained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, investigators raided the home of Deputy James Mee on September 13 and seized his computer, telephone records and other documents, according to the celebrity web site TMZ.com. TMZ, citing unnamed department sources for its report, said the search warrant remains under seal and the outcome of the search has not been...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department has opened an investigation into leaks to the media about the National Security Agency's classified domestic surveillance program. The program authorizes the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans without first seeking permission from a court for a search warrant. It has caused a political uproar with both Democrats and Republicans questioning whether President Bush went beyond his powers under the U.S. Constitution in authorizing it. The New York Times was the first to report the story on December 16th and then officials confirmed its existence to CNN and other organizations. "The Justice Department has opened...

When it comes to CIA leaking, this passage from the November 10, 2005, American Prospect is interesting: “The fact that the agency was leaking isn’t denied by some. ‘Of course they were leaking,’ says Pat Lang. ‘They told me about it at the time. They thought it was funny. They’d say things like, ‘This last thing that came out, surely people will pay attention to that. They won’t re-elect this man.’” There are other smoking guns out there. Take NPR, more recently, on Iran. “The Pentagon has created a new desk to work on Iran policy. That worries some at...

Fitzgerald given way out of Libby CIA leak case Judge says he can dismiss case if classified secrets will be revealed Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP file Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, indicted on perjury and obstruction charges last year in the CIA leak scandal, will have closed hearing to determine if he may use classified material as part of his defense. Judge withholds classified docs from Libby • Closed hearings ordered in Libby CIA leak case • NBC: Libby to invoke memory defense • Ruling a potential break for Libby Most Popular • Most Viewed •...

WASHINGTON - The No. 2 State Department official met with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003, the same time the reporter has testified that an administration official talked to him about CIA employee Valerie Plame. Official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage held a one-hour meeting marked “private appointment” with Woodward on June 13, 2003.

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Aug. 18, 2006 – There’s plenty of fuel available to fill the tanks of U.S. military vehicles and aircraft despite widely reported accounts of a commercial oil pipeline rupture in Alaska, a senior Defense Department logistician said here yesterday. “We’re in good shape all the time. We have significant fuel reserves. If fuel became locally unavailable, … we could move fuel from elsewhere in the United States to cover DoD’s requirements,” John S. Bartenhagen Jr., Defense Energy Support Center deputy director for operations, said. The center buys fuel for defense department needs. It is a component...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge told two San Francisco Chronicle reporters they must comply with a subpoena and tell a grand jury who leaked them secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government's steroid probe. The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White means reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada must appear before a grand jury investigating the leak unless a higher court blocks the ruling. The pair have said they would not testify and would go to jail rather than reveal their source or sources.

BRITAIN tried to oust the man leading the international campaign to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapons programme while he was in the middle of negotiations with Tehran, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Classified British government documents detail Tony Blair's attempts to stop Mohammed El Baradei getting a third term in charge of the UN's nuclear inspectorate, amid claims that he had lost the confidence of the United States.

The New York Times may not withhold reporters' phone records from a federal grand jury investigating an alleged leak of a pending government raid on two Islamic charities suspected of supporting terrorism, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. A three-judge panel of the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled 2 to 1 that the Times has no First Amendment or other legal right to refuse a demand for the records from the grand jury in Chicago, which was empaneled by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. The government's interest in rooting out a possible crime outweighs...

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury investigating leaks of classified information has summoned a former National Security Agency officer who says he talked to reporters about the agency's warrantless eavesdropping program. Russell Tice received a subpoena to testify next Wednesday to a grand jury that is meeting in Alexandria, Va. The subpoena was posted Friday on a Web site run by a whistleblowers' group to which Tice belongs. "The grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified information," according to a letter that accompanied the subpoena.

By Walter Pincus pincusw@washpost.com Courage in journalism today takes all the obvious, traditional forms -- reporting from a war zone or from a totalitarian country where a reporter's life or safety are issues. In Washington, D.C., where I work, it's a far less dramatic form of courage if a journalist stands up to a government official or a politician who he or she has reason to believe is not telling the truth or living up to his or her responsibilities. But I believe a new kind of courage is needed in journalism in this age of instant news, instant analysis,...

from The Hotline -- "Project Runway" returns and Bob Novak sewed up questions regarding his role in Valerie Plame case: Novak: "I called Rove. ... I called him for several reasons. I wanted to talk about the column I was writing about the mission to Niger. This is also, as almost all my conversations with Rove were, was not for attribution. And in the course of that, I asked him about Wilson's wife at the CIA working at the CIA and initiating this visit. And, as I remember the conversation very distinctly, Karl said to me, 'Yes, I know that,...

This week the deans of schools of journalism and communications at Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Berkeley and the University of Southern California wrote a brief article for The Washington Post on the question of whether to publish stories based on leaks of classified information. Their conclusion: “When in doubt, publish.”The deans considered the recent New York Times story revealing the details of a top-secret Treasury Department program targeting terrorist finances.Their verdict: Publish.They also considered the Times story revealing the top-secret National Security Agency (NSA) program that the Bush administration calls the “terrorist surveillance program” and its adversaries call “domestic spying.”Their verdict:...

WASHINGTON - Columnist Robert Novak said for the first time Tuesday that he cooperated with the investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Novak's decision to talk publicly came after he was notified a month ago by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that he would not file criminal charges against one of Novak's sources, White House political aide Karl Rove. Fitzgerald "has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded," Novak said in a statement. Novak promised to provide details...

This is a vanity post. As everyone knows, the NY Times recently published an article describing, in detail, a classified program intended to inhibit terrorist financing. Post your letters to the NY Times (letters@nytimes.com) and Exec. Editor Bill Keller below and we'll get a nice collection going!