Rice promises probe into Chalabi allegation

The disclosure cut off needed information about Iran.
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON -- National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice promised Congress on Wednesday a full investigation into allegations that an Iraqi politician supported by the Pentagon told Iran the United States had broken the code it used for secret communications, and U.S. officials said the revelation destroyed an important source of intelligence.
In a closed-door damage assessment on Capitol Hill, National Security Agency officials said the disclosure cut off a significant stream of information about Iran at a time when the United States is worried about the country's nuclear ambitions, its support for terrorist groups and its efforts to exert greater influence over Iraq.
"It's a very important ability, to be able to intercept their communications," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who attended two briefings on the matter Wednesday. "A very valuable tool the United States had was taken away."
Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, whose exile group received more than $40 million in U.S. payments over the years, denied Wednesday that he disclosed secrets to Iran, and he demanded that the Bush administration investigate the source of the leak about the investigation of him.
In a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, Chalabi's attorneys said the leak came from "the same individuals within the U.S. government who have undermined the President's policies in Iraq ... and are using Dr. Chalabi as a scapegoat for their own failures."
Controversy growing
The allegations against Chalabi have hit as controversy grows over his role in helping to supply the United States with intelligence about Iraq before the war, and over his efforts to position himself politically in Iraq after the invasion.
Chalabi is accused of providing Iraqi defectors to the United States who in turn provided false assertions that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He is also criticized for convincing civilian Pentagon leaders that Iraqis would peacefully welcome U.S. forces as liberators. Until recently, the Defense Intelligence Agency paid Chalabi's group $340,000 a month for information.
Wednesday's Capitol Hill briefings came as Bush administration officials confirmed earlier reports that they are investigating allegations that Chalabi shared intelligence about the United States with Iran.
FBI probe
An investigation by the FBI was launched several weeks ago, officials said, after the United States intercepted a secret message from an Iranian intelligence agent in Baghdad who told his superiors in Tehran that Chalabi had revealed that Americans had cracked Iran's encryption code. The communication said a drunken American official gave Chalabi the information.
At least five news organizations were tipped off to the inquiry over the past week but had held off publishing or broadcasting stories at the request of national security officials. The Washington Post was not among them.
The FBI is working to find out who first revealed that the United States had broken the code, and whether Chalabi was involved in passing on the information to Iran, officials said. Most of the officials interviewed for this article would speak only on the condition of anonymity because the investigation involves classified information.
One intelligence official said the FBI was conducting polygraph examinations. But senior officials at the Pentagon said they knew of no one there who had been interviewed by the FBI or who had been requested to submit to an interview. They also said the FBI had not informed top Pentagon authorities of plans to question any Defense Department employee in Washington.
A senior government official said Wednesday that the investigation is "focusing on a person in Baghdad." Another official said "my sense is the FBI has a pretty good idea" who gave Chalabi the information.
As for how many might have known that Iran's code may have been broken, the senior government official said the number could be large.
"Every day, hundreds and even thousands of people read intelligence reports," the official said. "These people can deduce from reading intelligence reports that we're reading the mail of another country."
Another question
Another question Wednesday was who leaked word of the intercepted Iranian message referring to Chalabi to reporters in Washington.
"Only a handful of people knew about this specific intercept, and most of them were in the White House," one U.S. official said. "A few senior people at the Pentagon had been briefed on it. But very few people in the U.S. government had actually seen the piece of paper describing the intercept."