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Bond: White House should apologize for intel leak, not me
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) on Sunday refused to apologize per the White House's request for saying that they leaked sensitive intelligence about the Christmas Day bomber.
Bond said that the White House owes an apology for putting the investigation of the attempted terror attack in jeopardy.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs this week called on Bond to apologize "to the law enforcement community and those that
work in this building" for alleging the White House had leaked
classified information about its Flight 253 investigation.
None of that information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's recent cooperation with
investigators was classified, Gibbs assured reporters during Thursday's press briefing.
"I think anybody that was involved in knowing in the Senate Intelligence Committee what was briefed and what was reported would know that that wasn't violated," Gibbs said.
The spat between the White House and Sen. Bond follows news from this week's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that Abdulmutallab was cooperating with investigators, now that he has spoken with his family.
In a letter to Obama Thursday, Bond said
he was deeply disturbed by the administration's recent disclosure that
the Christmas Day bomber was again providing critical information to
interrogators.
He said the FBI informed the leadership of
the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday afternoon about
Abdulmutallab’s recent willingness to talk to investigators and
stressed the importance of not disclosing his cooperation “in order to
protect ongoing and follow-on operations to neutralize additional
threats to the American public,” Bond wrote.
“FBI Director
Bob Mueller personally stressed to me that keeping the fact of his
cooperation quiet was vital to preventing future attacks against the
United States,” Bond said. “Handling this information in such a
sensitive manner struck me as entirely appropriate.”
But 24 hours later, the administration leaked it to the media, Bond charged.
Tony Romm and Susan Crabtree contributed to this report
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