White House urged caution on tapes issue

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Michael Hayden told lawmakers privately last week that three White House lawyers were briefed in 2004 about the existence of videotapes showing the interrogation of two al-Qaida figures, and they urged the agency to be "cautious" about destroying the tapes, according to sources familiar with his classified testimony.

The three White House officials at the briefing were David Addington, then Vice President Dick Cheney's chief counsel; Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel; and John Bellinger, then the top lawyer at the National Security Council, according to Hayden's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

When told some high-ranking CIA officials were demanding the tapes be destroyed, the White House lawyers "consistently counseled caution," said one U.S. official familiar with Hayden's testimony. Another source said Harriet Miers, another White House lawyer, followed up with a similar recommendation in 2005, making her the fourth White House lawyer "urging caution."

According to CIA officials, the videos recorded the response of two top al-Qaida figures incarcerated in 2002 at secret prisons to a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding and other "enhanced techniques" meant to pry loose secret information about terrorist plans.

After The Washington Post disclosed the existence of the secret prisons, the tapes were destroyed in November 2005 in what the CIA says was an attempt to protect the identities of the interrogators.

The disclosures about Hayden's testimony came as the CIA, faced with a threat of congressional subpoenas, said it would begin handing over documents related to the tapes as early as today. Reversing an administration decision last week to defer any cooperation with Congress, the CIA also said for the first time it will comply with lawmakers' requests to allow CIA officers to testify about the tapes.

Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, D-Texas, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said he will schedule a hearing for Jan. 16.

The New York Times first disclosed the involvement of all four White House officials in discussions about the tapes Wednesday.

White House officials reacted angrily to the newspaper's suggestion that they had not acknowledged being involved in the deliberations, taking issue with part of the headline: "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said." Spokeswoman Dana Perino said the White House had never officially described its role.

A New York Times spokeswoman noted the White House did not challenge any facts in the story.