Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : White House Defends Book Tour Expenses

The White House defended Hillary Rodham Clinton’s use of a government aircraft on her book tour, saying the Secret Service recommended it for security reasons. “We determined that compromising the first lady’s security for the sake of political appearances would be irresponsible in the extreme, particularly in view of the Secret Service’s recommendation,” White House legal counsel Jack Quinn said. Republicans have raised a number of questions about the book tour. Taxpayers will bear some of the cost of the tour because the 12-seat government plane costs $2,890 an hour to fly and Simon & Schuster, publisher of “It Takes a Village,” is paying only the equivalent of first-class fare. Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman, Neel Lattimore, said First Lady Barbara Bush had the same arrangement when she promoted “Millie’s Book.”