A Bolton Update

I went a whole day with hardly a mention of John Bolton, but there are a few new pieces of information this morning to pass along. The Washington Post reports that former assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation and special envoy to the Middle East John Wolf met yesterday for 75 minutes with Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff. Not only did Bolton target Rexon Ryu, an analyst he "mistakenly accused of concealing a cable," Wolf told the committee, but he also "demanded disciplinary actions against other career officials who offered views that differed from his own."

Also interviewed yesterday was Alan Foley, who formerly headed up the CIA's weapons of mass destruction office. The Post reports that Foley confirmed previous testimony "by Stuart Cohen, the former acting director of the National Intelligence Council, that Bolton had tried to fire the national intelligence officer for Latin America who disagreed with Bolton's assertions about an alleged bioweapons programs in Cuba. 'Foley told us that Bolton's chief of staff, Fred Fleitz, called him up and said that Bolton wanted the analyst fired,' one committee investigator said."

The New York Times' Douglas Jehl offers yet another allegation this morning. Robert Hutchings, a former head of the National Intelligence Council, told the Times that he "directed his staff in 2003 to strongly resist assertions that John R. Bolton sought to make about Syria's weapons programs in Congressional testimony," says Jehl. Hutchings has not yet been interviewed by Foreign Relations Committee staff.

The Times confirms the Post account of Wolf's testimony, noting that he did not provide the names of the analysts in question. Jehl also quotes former Reagan deputy secretary of state John Whitehead, as saying:

"I think good Republicans, which I like to feel I am, don't like to disagree with the president publicly, and so have been reluctant to speak out against him. But there are other people, in addition to those who have come forth, who would like to see a change made. I don't like to see the president suffer a loss, and I've been hoping that Mr. Bolton would withdraw, having seen the opposition out there."

An excellent idea. And a bit of good news from the Voinovich front: the Post story reports that in response to a question at a luncheon yesterday, the Ohioan continued to express doubts about Bolton's "interpersonal skills" and said that he has not yet decided how he'll vote on May 12.