Cheney Elevates Pair to Replace Indicted Aide

Even as lawmakers were advising the Bush administration to clean house after last week’s criminal charges against a top official in the CIA leak case, Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday elevated two aides who emerged as bit players in that saga to replace his indicted former chief of staff.

Cheney named his chief counsel, David S. Addington, to be his new top lieutenant. Addington replaces I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who resigned Friday after his indictment on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice in the probe of who may have illegally exposed the identity of a covert CIA operative.

Like Libby, Addington is close to Cheney. He has worked with him for two decades and does not shy from controversy or confrontation. He coauthored a memo that critics say justified the use of torture in the interrogation of terrorism suspects and led the effort to keep secret the vice president’s meetings with lobbyists as Cheney drafted a national energy plan.

Libby’s role as Cheney’s national security advisor will be assumed by John Hannah, the vice president’s deputy national security advisor.

Neither Addington nor Hannah was mentioned by name in the indictment, and neither was accused of wrongdoing. Both, according to the document, had discussions with Libby related to the CIA officer, Valerie Plame, and her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, who emerged in 2003 as a White House critic that administration officials were eager to rebut.

Over the weekend, Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the former majority leader, joined Democrats in urging the White House to bring in new faces to fill leadership positions. That point was echoed Monday by Democrats after the announcement that Hannah and Addington were being promoted.

“It is time for the president and vice president to bring in a new team of advisors who are above ethical reproach, like [President] Reagan did in his second term,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who as chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee hopes his party can make gains by painting the Bush White House as tainted by scandal.

The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq had sought nuclear materials in the African country. In July 2003, Wilson went public in newspaper columns and on television, accusing the administration of “twisting” intelligence information to justify going to war.

Eight days after Wilson published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, syndicated columnist Robert Novak revealed the name and employment of Wilson’s wife, suggesting that she had been responsible for her husband being sent to Niger.

Plame was a covert officer. In certain cases, exposing the identity of an undercover officer can be a federal crime.

Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has been investigating the leak of Plame’s identity, and last week he accused Libby of impeding his investigation.

The indictment notes that Cheney had an early conversation with Libby about Wilson’s trip and his wife’s possible role in it. And it says that two days after Wilson went public with his criticism of the administration, Libby consulted with Cheney’s counsel, Addington -- asking what paperwork the CIA would have if an employee’s spouse undertook an overseas trip.

The indictment also says Libby talked with Hannah, who is identified as Libby’s principal deputy, about “complications at the CIA” if information about Wilson’s trip were shared publicly.

Neither Hannah nor Addington has responded to questions about the indictment or what role, if any, either may have played in the subsequent release of Plame’s name.

It would not have been inappropriate for Cheney, Libby or Hannah to have learned of the agent’s identity as long as the men did not disclose the information outside of their circle, which has legal clearance to review classified information.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Monday brushed aside questions about Cheney’s role and the effect of the indictment on the White House, citing administration policy to refrain from commenting on the ongoing investigation. But he defended the promotion of Addington and Hannah.

“These are two individuals that have served the vice president very well since 2001,” McClellan said. “And the vice president selected them because he values their judgment and their insight.”