DATE=SEPTEMBER 29, 2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH INTELLIGENCE PROBE (S-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-308033

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The White House says it did not leak the name of a C-I-A agent whose husband challenged evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. From the White House, V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports, the Justice Department has been asked to look into the allegations.

TEXT: C-I-A Director George Tenet wants to know whether someone at the White House leaked the name of one his agents after her husband challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa.

That claim, which was based largely on forged documents, led to a series of continuing questions about how the administration justified the invasion of Iraq.

The agent's husband, former U-S Ambassador Joseph Wilson, says the president's senior political advisor Karl Rove was involved in leaking his wife's identity. White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that is ridiculous.

He says the Justice Department has not contacted the White House about investigating the leak, but if they do, the administration will cooperate in every way.

/// SECOND McCLELLAN ACT ///

The president believes leaking classified information is a very serious matter and it should be pursued to the fullest extent by the appropriate agency, and the appropriate agency is the Department of Justice.

/// END ACT ///

Intentionally disclosing a covert operative's name is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and 50-thousand-dollars in fines. (SIGNED)

NEB/SS/RAE/FC