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Wolfowitz to lead arms control panel

By Times Wires
Published January 25, 2008

Washington

Former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz will head a high-level advisory panel on arms control and disarmament, the State Department said Thursday. The move by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice marks a return to government for Wolfowitz, a conservative with close ties to the White House. As deputy defense secretary under President Bush, he was a major architect of the Iraq war. He was replaced as World Bank chief in June amid a furor over a hefty compensation package he arranged in 2005 for a bank employee who was also his girlfriend. Wolfowitz will become chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, which reports to the secretary of state. The panel is charged with supplying independent advice on arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation and related subjects.

Washington

Senate spy vote goes Bush's way

The Senate granted at least a temporary victory to the White House on Thursday, turning back an attempt to increase court oversight of the government's surveillance of phone calls and e-mails that involve people inside the United States. The 60-36 vote to reject increased powers for the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court came as senators worked against a Feb. 1 deadline to extend the law governing how U.S. intelligence agencies carry out electronic eavesdropping. Further action on the legislation was delayed until Monday, pushing Congress closer to the deadline.

Washington

Emission decision gets fiery defense

The Bush administration's top environmental regulator faced off Thursday against Democratic senators who took turns denouncing him for blocking tailpipe emission cuts in California and more than a dozen other states. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson didn't budge as he was accused of doing the bidding of the White House and the auto industry. "I evaluated all the data. ... I am bound by the criteria in the Clean Air Act, not people's opinions," he said. Because global warming is an international phenomenon not unique to California, the state doesn't need its own standards to meet "compelling and extraordinary conditions" as set out in the law, he said.

Washington

Explain tape loss, White House told

A federal judge said Thursday that CIA interrogation videotapes may have been relevant to his court case, and he gave the Bush administration three weeks to explain why they were destroyed in 2005 and say whether other evidence was destroyed. Several judges are considering wading into the dispute over the videos, but U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts was the first to order the administration to provide a written report on the matter. The decision is a legal setback for the Bush administration, which has urged courts not to get involved. The tapes showed harsh interrogation tactics used by CIA officers questioning al-Qaida suspects Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002.

Times wires

[Last modified January 25, 2008, 00:09:11]