Vote on U.N. Nominee May Be Delayed Again

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned Thursday that they may not be prepared to vote on John R. Bolton’s nomination as U.N. ambassador next week, as they previously agreed to do.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the committee’s ranking Democrat, asked for additional documents as part of the panel’s investigation of Bolton, and indicated that Democrats might try again to delay Thursday’s vote if the information is withheld.

Biden’s request, in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, came as the committee faced a self-imposed deadline today to finish its additional investigation of Bolton’s background. Biden wrote that he would consider it a “lack of cooperation” if documents were not handed over “in a timely manner.”

Democrats charge that Bolton, an undersecretary of State, exaggerated intelligence findings and bullied underlings and intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. President Bush and Senate Republicans defend him as a strong-minded diplomat who will help reform the United Nations.

In a victory for Democrats last month, the Foreign Relations Committee, composed of 10 Republicans and eight Democrats, unexpectedly delayed a confirmation vote, allowing more time for an investigation. At least three Republicans on the committee also have expressed reservations about Bolton.

Since then, the committee has interviewed or re-interviewed nearly 30 witnesses, as Democrats have sought to discredit Bolton and Republicans have attempted to rebut questions raised about his conduct.

Democratic and Republican aides are expected to prepare dueling summaries of those interviews, with Democrats arguing they added more evidence of Bolton’s highhanded ways, and Republicans saying they provided no information that should disqualify him.

Andy Fisher, spokesman for Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the committee chairman, said Thursday he thought the investigation would conclude today and that the committee’s confirmation vote would take place Thursday.

“We meet every day with Biden’s staff,” Fisher said. “It would appear that we are near the end of the discovery process.”

Fisher said that in Lugar’s view, the additional investigation had revealed no new information that should disqualify Bolton as U.N. ambassador.

Biden’s letter came one day after Lugar wrote to Rice and described some document requests made by Democrats as “extremely broad.” He said they “may have marginal relevance to specific allegations.”

Lugar eliminated from his list of requested documents four that Democrats sought. Three of those related to contentions that Bolton, as late as the summer of 2003, had tried to stiffen the intelligence community’s assessment of Syria’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

The fourth document related to remarks Bolton made in 2001 on Sudan, in which he expressed U.S. concern about what he described as “the growing interest of Sudan in developing a biological weapons program.” This went further than the CIA’s assertions to Congress at the time. The agency was then saying only that Sudan “may be interested” in biological weapons.

Disagreeing with Lugar, Biden said the documents “go directly to an issue the committee has been pursuing, namely whether in speeches and testimony, Mr. Bolton sought to exaggerate the conclusions that could reasonably be drawn from available intelligence.”

Democrats consider questions over Bolton’s use of intelligence and behavior toward analysts to be their strongest weapon against his nomination. The question of how political appointees approach intelligence findings has gained new importance after the invasion of Iraq, when U.S. survey teams found that Saddam Hussein had no stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons, and had not reconstituted Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, as the U.S. intelligence community and many foreign intelligence agencies had asserted.

Democrats on the committee have focused their efforts on obtaining evidence that could help sway one of three moderate Republicans -- Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island or Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio.

Democratic staff members also complained Thursday that the administration had not handed over records pertaining to requests submitted by Bolton or his assistant for the identities of U.S. officials whose conversations were recorded by the National Security Agency.

The Senate requested the NSA information through the Senate Intelligence Committee because the committee has jurisdiction over spy agencies. The panel is expected to share the information with the Foreign Relations Committee before its vote.

The Intelligence Committee is still waiting to receive records of the requests Bolton made, an aide said Thursday.

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that the NSA last week referred the matter to the office of newly appointed Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, and that it remained unclear when the records would be turned over.

With a vote scheduled next week on Bolton’s nomination, “it doesn’t give us a lot of time to look at them,” the aide said, adding that Negroponte’s office had not explained the delay.

The NSA, which eavesdrops on communications around the world, routinely intercepts calls or e-mails of foreign government officials, including exchanges with U.S. officials. The agency is supposed to withhold Americans’ names from intelligence reports but can disclose them in response to requests from officials who see the reports.

Bolton has made 10 such requests during his tenure at the State Department, prompting questions on whether he sought the names for legitimate intelligence reasons.