Armitage, Bolton often clashed, aide says
Says U.N. nominee a source of tension at State Department
From Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau
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| JOHN R. BOLTON | AGE: 56; born November 20, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Yale University, summa cum laude, 1970; law degree from Yale Law School, 1974
EXPERIENCE: Undersecretary of state for arms control and international security since May 11, 2001; assistant U.S. attorney general, 1985-1989; assistant administrator for program and policy coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982; associate at the Washington office of Covington & Burling, 1974-81; partner in the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus, 1993-99
FAMILY: Married to the former Gretchen Brainerd; one daughter.
Source: AP
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage often clashed with President Bush's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, according to a close aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Armitage also restricted John R. Bolton's public speaking unless his comments were personally cleared by him, Larry Wilkerson told the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Wilkerson, who served as Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, was one of more than 30 witnesses interviewed by staff members of the committee, which is expected to vote on Bolton's nomination on Thursday.
Transcripts of Wilkerson's testimony and that of others interviewed by committee staff members last week were provided by a Democrat on the panel who opposes Bolton's nomination.
Wilkerson, a close friend and longtime aide to Powell, said he was speaking in his own capacity and not as a proxy for his former boss or Armitage.
He said he was surprised by comments Armitage made last week calling Bolton "eminently qualified" for the job and saying he supported Bush's choice.
Wilkerson said Bolton, who is undersecretary of state for arms control, was a source of tension at the department and "overstepped his bounds" on several occasions.
Officials often came to his office to talk about their problems with Bolton, Wilkerson said.
Asked about Wilkerson's testimony, acting State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday that Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "continue to believe that Mr. Bolton is absolutely the perfect choice for this job."
"We believe the committee is going to make the proper decision. And the proper decision is to confirm him and to send him there so that he can work on the important project of U.N. reform," Casey said.
According to his testimony transcript, Wilkerson recalled Bolton's "moves and gyrations" to prevent Mohamed ElBaradei from securing a third term as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Wilkerson said Bolton went "out of his way to badmouth [ElBaradei], to make sure that everybody knew that the maximum power of the United States would be brought to bear against them if he were brought back in."
Wilkerson also cited several problems with speeches and testimony given by Bolton that were not properly vetted, eventually prompting Armitage to restrict Bolton's speeches and testimony unless Armitage personally cleared the comments.
In particular, Wilkerson cited a July 2003 speech on the eve of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program.
In the speech, Wilkerson said, Bolton offered about 40 negative references to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Wilkerson said the speech set off much consternation throughout the U.S. government.
About a month later, he said, Powell told senators the speech was cleared within the department and consistent with the Bush administration's policy toward North Korea.
Wilkerson said Armitage was "very angry -- that's to put it mildly" at an assistant secretary of state who cleared Bolton's language.
Thomas Hubbard, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, also has said Bolton mischaracterized him and the embassy in Seoul as having signed off on the speech. Hubbard said Bolton ignored advice by the embassy staff to tone it down. (Full story)
Wilkerson also disputed Bolton's assertion that he decided to postpone congressional testimony he was to give in the summer of 2003 on Syria.
Wilkerson said Armitage was the one who delayed the testimony after Bolton's intended comments drew opposition from U.S. intelligence agencies. Bolton eventually delivered the testimony in September 2003.
Robert Hutchings, a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council who was also interviewed by the committee Friday, called the debate between the intelligence community and Bolton over his testimony on Syria "particularly acute."
Hutchings, who coordinated the government's formal intelligence estimates, said Bolton "took isolated facts and made much more of them to build a case than I thought the intelligence warranted."
"It was a sort of cherry-picking of little factoids and little isolated bits that were drawn out to present the starkest-possible case," he said.
Hutchings said intelligence officials eventually cleared the speech, but that such clashes created "a climate of intimidation and a culture of conformity that is damaging."
The Foreign Relations Committee also is investigating requests by Bolton for transcripts of conversations intercepted by the National Security Agency.
In a CNN interview Monday, Rice said, "I see nothing that suggests that John was anything but an interested consumer of intelligence and asked difficult questions.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with someone, a policy maker, asking difficult questions of the intelligence community," she said.
The committee also interviewed Otto Reich, the Bush administration's former assistant secretary of state for Latin America, who is a staunch supporter of Bolton.
Democrats oppose Bolton's nomination and have criticized the State Department for failing to provide all requested documents related to questions of whether Bolton intimidated employees.
At least three Republicans have voiced reservations about Bolton.
The committee's Republican chairman, Richard Lugar of Indiana, said Sunday he believes the committee will vote along party lines, ultimately sending the nomination to the Senate floor.
The committee put off a scheduled vote on Bolton's nomination last month after a Republican member, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, joined Democrats in asking for more time to investigate fresh allegations about the Bolton's conduct. (Full story)
