Hearing on U.N. Nominee Delayed

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Friday postponed its confirmation hearing on the controversial nomination of veteran diplomat John D. Negroponte to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations because the CIA has not yet declassified key documents.

Committee spokeswoman Lynne Weil said the panel cannot hold a public hearing on the nomination until the CIA declassifies documents relating to Negroponte’s tenure as U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985, when he played a key role in the Reagan administration’s effort to overthrow the government of neighboring Nicaragua.

“The State Department declassified relevant documents in short order,” Weil said. But the CIA has balked. She said the committee staff is negotiating with the CIA to either make the documents public or to prepare a public summary of them that would reveal Negroponte’s actions without compromising intelligence sources and methods.

The hearing had been tentatively scheduled for Thursday. Weil gave no indication of when the session will be rescheduled.

Negroponte’s nomination has been stalled since President Bush announced it in March. Democrats, who now control the committee, say there are serious questions about Negroponte’s activities in Honduras. They accuse him of funneling arms to the Contras in Nicaragua despite congressional restrictions on such aid.

Some Democrats also want to ask Negroponte about accusations that he covered up the activities of Honduran death squads that targeted leftists in that country.

Negroponte has denied any wrongdoing. Committee sources say the CIA and State Department documents are expected to shed light on his activities.

Capitol Hill sources say that committee Democrats have not yet decided whether to actively oppose the nomination, although they intend to ask Negroponte some pointed questions.

It would be politically risky for Senate Democrats to reject Negroponte’s nomination because the 62-year-old career diplomat is a protege of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. He served as a deputy to Powell when he was White House national security advisor in the Reagan administration. A vote against Negroponte could be interpreted as a slap at Powell, perhaps the most popular person in Bush’s Cabinet and one whose views on a number of topics are closer than those of other senior administration officials to the positions of the Democrats.

Negroponte’s supporters say he is a professional diplomat who carried out the policy of the president he served.

Bush is pressing the Senate to confirm Negroponte before the U.N. General Assembly convenes later this month. The president is scheduled to address the assembly Sept. 24 and would like a permanent U.S. representative in place by then.